Dancing With Death
by NutsAboutHarry
Summary: Fourth story in the Revelations Story Arc and follows directly on from Finality. Follows Kate and Rick as they begin their married lives together and deal with life at the 12th, FBI Field office, starting a family and the persistent rumors of mirror ball trophies. Rated M because Kate and Rick are total hornbags and get more action than a pair of overworked porn stars!
1. Chapter 1

A/N1: Hello peoples and _**WELCOME**_ to my new story 'Dancing With Death' the fourth story in the Revelations Story Arc. Y'all are so fucking _**AWESOME!**_ I got so many reviews, author follows and favourite story alerts for the last chapter of Finality it blew my mind! Your enthusiasm for my little project is so overwhelming! I bring to you the next installment of Kate and Rick's lives and hope you enjoy it as much as I have writing it. If you have any suggestions or constructive criticisms please let me know. Your feedback helps me become a better writer!

I've titled this Chapter 'Home Sweet Home'

I apologise for totally raping the French language, I haven't taken French since grade nine nineteen years ago and my skills in the language of love have slipped quite a bit. I would help to have Google Translate on standby unless you actually understand French and can interpret what the hell I'm trying to say LOL

* * *

"I don't know if I want to go home," Kate murmured one early summer morning in Paris on the last day of their honeymoon, a month after they had married. "It's warm here in Paris and everything smells of baking bread and cut grass."

Rick chuckled and allowed his wife to snuggle farther into his bulk. "It's warm back in New York too, you know," he countered.

"But everything smells of trash, smog and horse shit," Kate argued, the tiniest hint of a smile playing on her lips. "France is more..._French_."

Rick let out a great snort of laughter. "Well _duh,_" he replied. "Thank you for that illuminating observation Captain Obvious."

Kate rolled her eyes and smacked his chest. "Smartass," she grumbled. "You know full well what I mean and I am _not_ impressed by you at _all_."

"Hmm, that's not the impression I got last night," Rick murmured, sweeping aside her knotted brunette locks and placing a wide wet kiss on her neck that was peppered with hickeys. "Those nail scratch marks you gave me on my back on our wedding night say the total opposite."

Kate went bright red and buried her face in the sheets of the bed. "I can't believe I did that!" she moaned. "And more than once!"

"Every day since we left for the honeymoon," Rick added with a sarcastic chuckle. "The guys at the field office are going to tease me something chronic in the change rooms of the gym. They already think I have leprosy because of your inability to give me hickeys anywhere other than my neck."

"Oh Rick, be _nice!_" Kate groaned, her face obscured by the snow white sheets of their bed. "You're embarrassing me!"

The Writer chuckled and pulled his wife close, nuzzling her hair and trailing his fingers up and down her back. "_I love you Mrs Castle,_" he whispered.

"Love you too, Mr Castle."

* * *

"_Mesdames et Messieurs, c'est l'appel d'embarquement premier vol United Airlines 1212 de Charles De Gaulle international de John F Kennedy à New York. Tous les passagers détenant des cartes d'embarquement pour ce vol sont invités à se frayer un chemin jusqu'à la porte six immédiatement en préparation pour l'embarquement._

("_Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is the first boarding call for United Airlines flight 1212 from Charles De Gaulle International to John F Kennedy in New York. All passengers holding boarding passes for this flight are asked to make their way to gate six immediately in preparation for boarding._")

"That's us," Kate piped up, drawing Rick's attention away from his game of Angry Birds Space.

"You know I still can't believe after knowing you for nearly five years and being married to you for a whole month, I've only _just_ found out you speak fluent French," The Writer grumbled, pocketing his phone. "I just thought you whispering to me in French in the bedroom was just to turn me on."

Kate grinned and slipped her hand into his. "It was," she admitted. "And I _can't_ speak it fluently, only enough to get by. I just know enough to turn you on with my linguistic skills in the bedroom."

Rick swallowed the groan threatening to escape his lungs. "You're a tease Katherine Castle," he declared. "You know you are, you like I'm struggling not to walk through the departure lounge of one of the biggest airports in Europe without a hard on, don't you?"

Kate grinned and winked. "I choose not to comment on the grounds that I _may_ incriminate myself," she responded, squeezing his hand affectionately. "_Maaaaaaaaaaybe_ once we get on the plane and we're in the air we can do something about..."

The female detective let her words hang in the air.

"You're going to kill me, Katherine Castle. I swear you will," Rick groaned.

"Yup and I'll enjoy every damn minute of it," she replied with a giggle as they arrived at the gate for their flight and joined the queue. "I know you too well, Writer Boy. Your eyes give away so much."

Rick slung his laptop bag over his shoulder and pulled Kate close. "And what do my eyes say now?" he murmured.

The female detective stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. "_Many-__**many**_**-**_things,_" she purred between long languid kisses, unashamedly grabbing his ass and squeezing it. "_Kiss me Rick._"

The Writer and Special Agent wrapped his muscular arms around Kate more firmly and seized her lips with his. The newly married couple totally lost themselves in each other and kissed for several long moments before they were interrupted by a loud cough and a peeved voice.

"Can't you do zat elsevhere?" a short man dressed in cargo pants and a Ralph Lauren polo shirt asked the loved up pair pointedly, in a thick French accent. "Ziz is an airport, not a brothel and ve are vaiting to board ze plane."

"_Eh bien nous excuser curieux!_" (_Well excuse me!_) Kate shot back at the man the deepest of death glares on her face.

The man bit his tongue and Kate and Rick strode forward got their boarding passes scanned and making their way into the plane and the first class cabin.

"Kissing so passionately in public is going to get us in trouble one day," Rick commented as he stowed his backpack and laptop bag in the overhead compartment. "You so totally went for the grope right in the middle of the busiest airport in Europe..._twice_."

Kate's face immediately went bright red. "Well _excuuuuuuse _me," she said with a barely discernable smile on her face. "It's not my fault you have the best ass I have ever seen in my life. We're married now which _is_ a legally binding contract. I'm legally allowed to grope you whenever I like."

Rick threw back his head and laughed heartily. "Well I'm not going to stop you groping me," he replied scooting sideways then dropping down in his seat. "I like it when you 'admire' my _ass_ets."

Kate licked her lips lasciviously and quickly looked down at his crotch. "_Mmmmm_ you _do_ have great _ASS_ets," she agreed, sitting down and cheekily running her fingers up and down the inside of his right thigh. "I'm hoping once the drink cart comes around and I can get some _ice_. We can..."

She let the words hang in the air.

Rick swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing comically. If the flight from Vancouver to Paris ten days ago had been any indication the trip back to New York was going to be _hell._ In the most _delicious_ way possible.

* * *

About five hours later while the cabin was darkened and all the passengers in the first class cabin were asleep save for Kate and Rick Kate was struck by an idea.

"_You up for a little fun?_" she whispered pulling back from giving him a hickey on the nape of his neck.

"Oh and what would that be?" Rick murmured

Kate grinned. "_Weeeeeeeeeell_," she drawled, sliding her hand down his front and cupping the front of his jeans. "We've watched the movie and everyone's asleep. And I'm _far_ from sleepy _aaaaaaaaaaand _it's another two and a half hours til we land in New York."

Rick grinned as his wife shimmied out of her chair and placed herself between his legs. "I _might_ be up for a little fun," he answered as she slowly undid his belt and unzipped his fly. "You're going to have to convince me though."

Kate's grin widened as she reached into his jeans and grasped his half hard length. "_I think I can do that,_" she whispered, sticking out her tongue and running the tip of it from his testicles to the tip

Rick scrunched his eyes shut and bit back the groan threatening to escape his lips as Kate sucked on his sensitive tip then flattened her tongue and took his entire length into her mouth at an excruciatingly slow pace. He threaded his fingers through her long brunette locks and totally lost himself in the mind numbing feelings consuming him. Kate grinned around his thickness and while her husband's eyes were clenched shut, she reached up to the cup of ice on her seat tray and placed a particularly large ice cube into her mouth. Then without missing a beat she returned her attentions to Rick's length.

The sudden change in temperature caused Rick to sit up, suddenly and his eyes fly open in shock. Kate followed his sudden movement and grinned as she sucked, laved slurped and consumed his masculinity.

"_Jesus Christ Kate__,__ what __**are**__ you DOING?_" Rick hissed, using all his self control not to yelp out loud. "Oh God God, Goddy God!"

Kate opened her mouth and poked her tongue out to show him the ice cube but quickly returned to his length. Spooning her tongue a little to keep the little frozen square of water in place, she slurped, nibbled, sucked and laves at his hardness til he grabbed handfuls of her brunette tresses and tugged on them painfully.

"_Kate__,__ I can't handle it anymore!_" he hissed through clenched teeth. "_Oh God__,__ sweetheart!_"

Taking one last sustained suck on his length Kate released him then stood up, surreptitiously stepped out of her knickers then straddled Rick's lap and slowly sat down on his erection. The Writer grabbed her hips and groaned his voice muffled by her back as she began to ride him in a quick, quick slow rhythm.

"_Katherine Castle__,__ you're going to kill me!_" Rick hissed, pulling her back and sucking on the nape of her neck. "_You naughty__,__ naughty girl!_"

Wordlessly Kate grabbed one of her husband's hands and placed it between her legs, he caught on pretty quickly what she wanted him to do and agonizingly slowly began circling her clit with his thick fingers. Kate bucked against the contact and let out a deep but quiet mew of desire, Rick pressed harder against her nub and bit the tip of his tongue hard as he felt her involuntarily squeeze against him.

"_Oh God__,__ Tulip__.__ I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold out much longer,_" Rick whispered as he and Kate rocked and pushed against each other. "_I'm really__,__**really**__ close,_"

"_Let go then,_" Kate whispered back as she turned her head and kissed him hard. "_Fuck me Rick_."

The uncharacteristic use of swear words spilling from Kate's mouth sent a blazing swoop of arousal through Rick's body and he grabbed her hip with one hand and pinched her clit with the fingers of the other. She in turn ground down on him harder and leaned back into him squeezing his thickness within her with all the strength she could muster and despite the awkward angle to which their bodies were aligned Rick thrust up into her perfectly bringing himself and Kate to the very bring of delirium.

Kate was the first one to peak and let out a squeak of completion. Rick slapped his hand over her mouth and followed her over the edge, biting into the lightly tanned skin on her neck as he released deep within her, thrusting lazily into his new wife's body with each exquisite aftershock.

"_Oh my god__,__ that was unreal!_" Kate breathed as she slumped against Rick recovering from her efforts. "_I love you so much__,__ Rick._"

The writer ran the tip of his tongue over the pale pink bite mark on her nick soothing the sting with a wide, wet open mouthed kiss. "_Love you too__,__ Tulip,_" he murmured lazily, circling her clit and grinning each time she jerked against him. "_You did well to keep quiet._"

"I can't exactly be noisy in a plane cabin, Rick," Kate joked, her breathing slowing as she recovered. "When's nine months from now?"

"_Hmm?_ Uhm March or there's abouts," Rick replied with a happy sigh as he peppered her neck with kisses. "Why? D'you want to head straight to Ikea straight off the plane and buy some baby nursery furniture?"

Kate giggled. "Well maybe not _straight_ off the plane," she said. "But maybe in a few weeks. I really want a baby, Rick."

"It'll happen for us sweetheart, it'll happen," Rick murmured, slipping from within her warmth as she got up and re-arranged her skirt. "Let's go and see a doctor before we head back to the precinct okay? Just to make sure everything's working properly."

Kate leaned down and captured his lips in a long and languid kiss. "_You're sweet,_" she whispered. "_I love you._"

Rick watched Kate with a greedy eye as she turned and bent over to retrieve her panties, his ice blue eyes fixated on her backside. She straightened up and caught him staring at her and grinned when he immediately turned a magnificent shade of scarlet.

"You're as subtle as a cattle truck, Castle," she teased as she shimmied back into her panties. "I _know_ you were staring at my ass."

"_Aaaaand?_" the Writer replied the colouring on his face fading and a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Kate leaned down to whisper in his ear. "_And I like it._"

* * *

Two and a half hours later, the plane touched down at JFK airport. Kate and Rick collected their carry on luggage then disembarked, making their way up the sky bridge and into the bustling arrivals lounge.

"Ah home sweet home," Rick announced, lacing his fingers through Kate's as they headed toward the luggage collection carousels. "What should we do when we get home?"

"Make a baby?" Kate suggestion with a great snort of laughter.

"Um haven't we been doing that for the last month?" Rick shot back 'at least three times a day and I think four times in total on the flight from Paris, I feel like a stud stallion."

Kate's grin widened further and she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Well you're certainly a _stallion_,' she murmured in amusement her green-brown eyes once again colouring with desire. "You perform rather well when the need _arises._"

Rick chuckled. "I'm not going to argue with that," he said in amusement. "Let's grab our luggage then head home, huh? Maybe we can continue on with the line of entertainment from the previous few weeks."

"Sounds good."

Kate and Rick collected their luggage then made their way through customs; they were heading toward the nearest taxi rank when a small voice caught their attention.

"Detective Beckett?"

Kate whipped around to see a small redheaded girl no older than five or six standing behind her a young woman - obviously the girl's mother - laden down with luggage behind her.

"Go on sweetie, she won't bite," she said, giving her daughter a little shove.

Kate crouched down to the girl's level. "Can I help you honey?" she asked.

"Um, um, Mommy says you're a p'lice officer," the little girl stuttered. "She says you catch bad guys."

"That's right, what'd your name honey?" Kate asked.

"I'm Emma, I'm five years old." The little girl replied.

"Well yes Emma, I am a police officer and I catch bad guys every day," Kate informed Emma, holding both her hands out. "I stop the bad guys from hurting people like your Mommy and you. How did you recognize me?"

"I've seen you on TV," Emma admitted, taking Kate's hands. "Mommy and Daddy don' like me watchin' all the bad stuff but I like you and want to catch the bad guys one day."

"You want to be a police officer, huh?" Kate asked with a smile. "It's a tough job, you know and it can be sad sometimes."

"But you have partners t'make you happy again," Emma piped up. "The other p'lice officers."

"Oh you mean Javier, Kevin and Rick?"

"Uh huh, those guys." Emma said, looking over at Rick and lighting up as she recognized him. "They're your friends, aren't they?"

"Yep, they are my three best friends," Kate replied tucking a bang of Emma's hair behind her ear. "Rick and I got married last month, he's my bestest friend of all. We're like your Mommy and Daddy. We're each other's best friend."

"Everyone needs a bestest friend," Emma declared "My bestest friend is Gemma, we go to the playground every day after school and go sliding."

"D'you have fun?"

"Lots," Emma replied, nodding so hard she looked like a bobblehead doll. "Have you and Mister Rick been on a holiday?"

"Uh huh, we have," Kate replied. "We went to two places, Bora Bora and Paris for our Honeymoon."

"Did you have fun?"

"We did, we went swimming, horse riding, sailing and we even went on a hot balloon ride. We were really high up for that, it was kinda scary."

"I bet Mr Rick made you not scared."

"You're right about that, he hugged me and said not to be scared and you know what? I wasn't, that's what bestest friends do, they help each other not be scared."

"Yup they do," Emma agreed. "Um Detec-"

"You can call me Kate, sweetie. I'm on holidays. I'm not a detective for a whole 'nother week yet," Kate told the suddenly nervous girl.

"Um c-can I p-please have a photo with you?" Emma stammered. "A-and your aut-aut-um."

"You'd like m autograph?" Kate asked clearly astounded by Emma's request. "I'm not famous, sweetie."

"Yeah y'are," Emma replied. "I've seen you on TV."

"She thinks everyone on TV is famous," Emma's mother replied dryly.

"You're famous to me," Emma continued. "_Please_ Kate?"

"Alright sweetie, I can do that for you," Kate told the girl as she dug into her handbag and pulled out a small writing pad and pen. "Have you been on holidays too?"

"Uh huh...Mommy, Daddy and I went to Canada to visit Nanna, Daddy comes home tomorrow," Emma replied. "We spent a whole week there."

"I've been to Canada, its lots of fun there," Kate replied scribbling on the paper. "Rick and I are going to go skiing there next winter. I'm going to watch him fall over a lot."

"Hey, excuse me...I'm not going to fall over that much!" The Writer piped up as Kate tore the page from the writing pad and gave it to Emma. "Just because I can't surf, does _not_ mean I can't ski."

Emma giggled. "He's funny," she said, reading the paper upon which Kate had written _'To Emma, always tell the truth, always do the right thing and go get the bad guys! Lots of love Kate Beckett'_

"He is, he always makes me laugh," Kate replied with a smile as Emma's mother took a digital camera out of her handbag. "Would you still like a photo?"

"Uh huh, please."

Kate dropped down to her knees and wrapped her slender arms around Emma's waist, giving her a hug.

"Okay sweetie, give me a _biiiiiiiig_ smile!" Emma's mother urged. "Let's give something good to show Daddy tomorrow, huh?"

Emma grinned, revealing a big gap in her teeth and Kate smiled. Emma's mother took several shots then scurried forward to show Kate the pictures.

"Seriously thanks for doing this," the younger woman replied. "She's going to go on and on about this for _days_.

"I was happy too," Kate replied amiably. "She's very polite, lovely manners. You and your husband ought to be very proud"

"Thank you!" Okay honey, say goodbye to Detective Beckett now. We have to go home."

Emma reached up and hugged Kate hard around the middle. "Goodbye Kate, hope you had a good holiday!" she exclaimed. "I'm gonna tell Daddy all about this tomorrow!"

"You do that sweetie," Kate replied, crouching down and returning the hug. "Maybe I'll see you in a few years at the precinct, huh? Never know I could be your boss one day."

"You really could be?"

"Yup, I could be, when you turn twenty one, you can become a police officer."

"Oh _wow._"

"Alright, you scoot on home honey, stay close to Mommy okay? Hold her hand tight."

"Okay Kate, see you soon, and thank you!"

Waving at Kate, Emma grabbed her mother's hand and disappeared into the bustling crowd. Kate stood up and watched the little girl's departure a small smile upon her face.

"I can't believe a five year old asked me for my autograph!" she murmured incredulously. "I mean _you're_ the famous one, not me."

"But you're on TV," Rick teased. "And to that little girl, you _are_ famous. You help put away the bad guys and a five year old thinks that's pretty BAMF-y."

"Rick, Emma wouldn't know what BAMF means," Kate shot back.

"Yeah I know that but she admires you, enjoy it. A lot of people admire you," Rick replied, lacing his fingers through her once again as they resumed their journey to the taxi rank. "And that little meeting there convinced me of one thing."

"Oh and what's that?"

"You're going to be the best Mother in the world."

* * *

A/N2: Reviews are love!


	2. Back to the Grindstone

A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the second Chapter of Dancing with Death I have titled 'Back to the Grindstone'. I have four words for you...

I hate this chapter.

I hope you like it much better than do.

* * *

"_It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater. One-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater. One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater. Sure looks strange to me..._"

Rick groaned loudly as the really loud cheerful song pierced through his ear yanking him into consciousness. "_UGH _really, Kate, _really?_" he groaned, scrunching his eyes shut as beside him Kate woke and stretched gracefully. "The Purple People Eater? And I thought the Muppet Show theme you used to have was weird enough."

'_Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin' purple people eater. Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple people eater. __**We wear short shorts!**__ Flyin' purple people eater__. __Sure looks strange to me!_"

"It was a choice between the Purple People Eater and the Monster Mash," Kate replied, silencing the alarm before rolling over and greeting him with a good morning kiss. "But I figured Monster Mash would be more appropriate for Halloween, _morning_ Writer Man."

Rick opened his eyes and smiled as Kate kissed him again. "_Morning_ Mrs Castle," he murmured. "You're looking mighty fine this morning."

"You say that _every_ morning," Kate replied dryly, pressing her lips to his neck and sucking upon the hickey she had left there the previous night.

"It's true...every m-m-morning," Rick countered as he stuttered through a yawn. "W-what time is it?"

"Six thirty," Kate murmured, her lips still firmly attached to his neck. "How about we get ready now then head into Angelo's for breakfast? I'm craving bacon fat."

"Can we save time by showering together?" Rick inquired cheekily as Kate sat up and threw the covers back. "All in the name of water saving, you know me...always environmentally conscious."

Kate shot her husband, her trademark eye roll. "If you expect me to believe that, it only confirms my beliefs that you're deluded," she said dryly getting up. "C'mon, Mr Environmentally Conscious...time to move your lazy ass."

"_Hey__,__ I resent that!_"

An hour later Rick and Kate left the loft and went down to the parking garage where they got into the Ferrari.

"I think I've put on weight over our holiday," she voiced as Rick started the engine with a roar. "I actually had to suck my stomach in to get my jeans on this morning."

"You probably have," Rick replied as he carefully reversed. "We both probably have. I mean we did spend our whole honeymoon eating seafood with cream sauce and fattening pastries in Paris. And the only exercise we had was sex and despite my great prowess and your incredible skill in the bedroom, we did not have enough sex to burn off all the calories we consumed."

Kate laughed. "True," she said. "We're making good time. Do you want to head to the field office to pick up your Glock before we head to Angelo's?"

"You sure? That'd make less time for us to sit down for breakfast."

"No...I don't mind, besides I like all the guys in the field office. I'll be nice to touch base with them again," Kate continued as they roared out into the street. "And I really want to see if they think you have leprosy because of the hickeys I've left on your neck."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Ha ha hardi _har_," he retorted. "I married a smart aleck."

"Nah, you didn't. You're just a bad influence on me," Kate replied with a hearty snort of laughter. "A _very_ bad influence."

"Ahhhhh, so you're admitting you're a bad girl?"

Kate reached across the centre console and gave her husband's crotch a cheeky squeeze. "_Very bad,_" she replied. "So much so you're going to have to spank me after work."

Rick's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "How about _at_ work in the break room under the pretence of making a coffee?" he suggested excitedly.

"Cool your jets, Writer Man. We'd never get away with it," Kate replied. "Kevin and Javi would guess what we're up to in a nanosecond and you know Gates doesn't fly with us showing any physical affection at work. I don't think the thrill of canoodling at work would be worth being chewed out by my boss on our first day back."

The Writer slumped his seat and made a face. "Sometimes I think you're too sensible for me," he joked. "Back to the grindstone huh? _Dammit._"

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can finish, _hubby_. Don't be so down," Kate comforted affectionately, squeezing his thigh. "Don't worry, by the end of the week we'll be back in the groove and we'll find it easier to distract ourselves. You'll be back at the field office by then too."

"Yeah..._that's_ gonna suck," Rick grumbled. "But I suppose I'll _cope_."

Kate grinned and affectionately twisted her husband's earlobe. "You will."

* * *

After a brief detour to the FBI field office for Rick to pick up his ID and service weapon, the pair called by Angelo's, their favourite café directly opposite the 12th precinct. As soon as they entered their familiar morning haunt, Kate smiled and inhaled the scent of freshly ground coffee and frying bacon deeply.

"Hungry?" Rick asked, slipping his hand into hers as they waited in line to order.

"_Starving,__"_ Kate replied as she lifted her eyes to scan the extensive menu. "All I can think of is bacon, bacon and more bacon. I'm craving it with their chilli mince."

Rick's eyebrows shot up. "That's specific." he teased.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up," she grumbled. "It's not specific; you _know_ I have the bacon with chilli mince every time we come here."

"I know, just teasin' Tulip," Rick replied squeezing her hand lightly.

As usual on a Monday morning Angelo's was packed full and it wasn't until half past eight that Rick and Kate got served.

"Yeah, can I have the Canadian breakfast with three extra serves of crispy bacon and a large serving of scrambled eggs and that hot chilli mince?" Kate asked the cashier. "As well as a grand skim latte two pumps of vanilla sugar free and a large orange juice."

"Eat in or take away, ma'am?"

"Take away thanks."

"Hungry much?" Rick teased as the cashier entered Kate's order into the till.

"I'm _starving__,_ Rick. I haven't felt this hungry in ages!" Kate exclaimed. "Not since I got shot, when I woke from surgery I ate three full meals and two boxes of double stuff Oreos."

"Well I know you haven't had open heart surgery recently so can I put your vociferous appetite down to being a guts?" Rick piped up with a grin as he stepped forward to order his meal. "Can I please have two egg and bacon English muffins and a hash brown and a Grande hazelnut creamer latte? We're on the same order."

"Of course Sir."

"I am _not_ a guts, I've just been _exercising_ a lot lately and I need to consume the calories I burn," Kate declared, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink. "That is my story and I'm stickin' to it."

Rick pursed his lips and struggled to fight off a grin.

Due to the long wait to order Kate and Rick were forced to grab their orders and immediately leave for the precinct across the road. As soon as they entered the ground floor all the uniformed officers began calling out greetings.

"Hey Mr and Mrs Castle, you've got tans!" MJ the desk sergeant called. "Find a 'secluded' beach somewhere, did you?"

Kate rolled her eyes as the older officer made air quotations with his fingers, a wide grin spread across his face.

"_That_," she said with the tiniest of smiles tugging at the corners of her lips. "Is not something you're going to find out about any time soon, nosey. Don't you have paperwork to do, _Sergeant?_"

"Want some aloe vera boss? You just got _burned_," one of the other uniforms quipped as he walked by with an arm full of manila folders.

"You're too good for me, KB. You're too good," MJ shot back with a chuckle. "Good to see you back, you too Castle."

"Nice seeing you again too, MJ." The Writer replied, lifting a hand to wave as he elevator doors opened. "We're going to be teased like that all day, aren't we?" He added as he stepped into the elevator.

"Most likely," Kate replied, stepping in after him and pressing the four button for the fourth floor. "Especially from Javi and Kevin-oh _yum._"

Kate reached into the paper bag containing her breakfast and pulled out a chunk of maple syrup soaked waffle before stuffing it in her mouth. Rick chuckled heartily when a little drip of maple syrup ran down her chin and a small moan of satisfaction escaped her lips.

"I've heard that noise and seen that look on your face before," he said in amusement. "This morning in the sho-"

"Rick _SHHHHHHHH!_" Kate hissed. "_Behave!_"

"Sure thing, _wifey_."

"Oh _brother_."

After a brief stop at Narcotics the elevator arrived at the Homicide department. Kate and Rick walked into the department and were immediately greeted by Jane Karpowski.

"Ah, the saccharine sweet lovebirds return!" she said with a great snort of laughter as she embraced Kate. "Good to see you Becke-shit I'm going to have to change that to Castle now, aren't I?"

"I'll answer to both," Kate replied, returning her colleague and friend's embrace. "How have you been? The department?"

"Oh the department's dead, 'scuse the pun," Karpowski replied. "None of us have had a drop for three days. We're even getting down to tidying up the evidence room because there's no paperwork to do. Ryan and Esposito suggested starting up a hackey sack competition if no cases come up."

"Those two are obsessed with that game," Rick commented. "They in?"

"Yep...break room, dissecting the Bulls Lakers game last night and waxing lyrical about the good old days of Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal," the detective groaned, rolling her eyes skyward. "Wait til the Winter Olympics next year, you'll arrive at work to them discussing the finer points of figure skating."

"Is Gates in?

"Yep, good to see you two back anyway," Karpowski replied. "We'll have to hit the Old Haunt this week, the whole department. We haven't been there as a whole group in months."

"I look forward to it."

Karpowski returned to her desk as Kate and Rick made their way to the break room where Ryan and Esposito were having a lively discussion about the previous evening's basketball match.

"Bro, that lass pass was offs-_hey!_" Esposito exclaimed upon seeing his friends.

Kate strode forward and embraced the Latino detective. "Hey Javi, good to see you!" she exclaimed as Ryan cuffed Rick on the shoulder.

"Likewise chica, you're tanned. Spent the whole honeymoon 'sunbaking,' huh?"

"Oh, don't _you_ start," Kate groaned, putting the bag containing breakfast on the large table in the centre of the room. "MJ's already started the jokes. How's Lanie? I haven't had a chance to ring her since we got back from Paris last week."

"I bet you haven't," Esposito teased. "She's good, she's been itching to ring you all week ever since those paparazzi pictures of you talking to that kid at JFK hit cyberspace, but I convinced her to sit tight til you started back at work."

"We were followed by the paparazzi?" Kate groaned, going to the cutlery drawer and taking out a knife and fork. "_Again? __Great_."

"What site were they on?" Rick inquired, taking his iPhone out of his pocket. "I haven't been online since before the wedding."

"TMZ I think," Esposito replied. "I'm not sure I don't really follow that scene, but Lanie did show me the pictures and it's nothing I haven't seen before."

"The most prominent picture _I_ saw was of you two swapping spit and groping each other's ass by the side of a luggage carousel," Ryan piped up cheekily "TMZ like to blow up pics of you two doing that, but as Javi said it's nothing we haven't seen, you two do in the break room when Gates isn't here."

Both Kate and Rick turned a magnificent shade of scarlet. "Sometimes it sucks being in the public eye," Rick grumbled as he tapped away at his phone. "Well at least they weren't in our faces."

"Once you get back into the routine of your job, they'll drop off dude," Ryan informed his friend. "Being a fed and a homicide cop is boring to the gossip media, they'll only have to wait five minutes til one of the Kardashians drop into town and you'll be able to butt grab and swap spit in the middle of Times Square and they won't care."

"Great, we'll keep-," Kate murmured her voice muffled by her food as a piece of waffle flew out of her mouth and hit Ryan on the cheek. "Oops _sorry."_

"What's the deal with the three person banquet?" Esposito inquired as Kate took a bite of waffle then a sip of coffee then a sip of orange juice.

"_Mmmfmhungry,_" Kate replied, swallowing with a wince then stabbing a rasher of bacon with her fork.

"You're inhaling that like you haven't eaten in a week, have you kept her that 'busy' bro?" Esposito asked Rick who was looking through the TMZ app on his phone.

"Shut up, I'm just hungry," Kate replied. "So tell me about what's on the books, Karpowski said it was quiet just now."

"Yeah, nothing fresh since Thursday and Eggerstrom and Jameson caught that one so everyone else is just finishing off paperwork," Esposito informed his friend. "So there's not a lot to do really unless you want to open up a cold case."

"Nah, I'm quite happy to wait til a new case drops, start afresh," Kate replied. "Besides, if Castle and I open up a cold case we'll have to go down to archives and my coffee hasn't kicked in enough for me to want to go down there yet."

"Oh apparently fifty seven percent of the people asked in a survey on TMZ want me to be a contestant on the next series of Dancing With the Stars'," Rick piped up. "What d'you reckon boys...can you see me cha cha cha-ing?" he added swinging his hips a little.

In an instant Ryan and Esposito fell about laughing. "Y-yes at Hal-Hall'ween, d-dressed as Batman when you're t-totally w-wasted!" Esposito tittered his round face turning bright red from the effort of laughing so hard.

"Sequins and taffeta?" Ryan added. "I'd _pay_ you to go on national TV in something sparkly like that."

"Oh be nice!" Rick huffed, the corners of his mouth twitching as he fought to cover up his amusement. "I actually quite like the idea."

"You'd win the public vote with the NYPD and FBI behind you bro," Esposito proclaimed. "I'd wreck my phone plan voting for you."

"Me too," Ryan added.

"Gee guys, thanks. Your generosity knows no bounds," Rick replied dryly. "It is the time of year where people start getting asked to be on the show."

"Would you say yes if you were asked?" Ryan asked in interest.

"In a heartbeat," Rick replied with an ever widening grin. "I did ballroom and Latin classes when I was a kid. I liked it but not enough to get into the whole dancing scene, writing and law enforcement held more of an allure."

"Just think if you hadn't decided on writing we wouldn't have met," Kate said thickly as she shoved a mouthful of scrambled egg into her cheek. "We wouldn't be a team."

"Nope, we wouldn't."

* * *

Several minutes later Gates emerged from her office and entered the break room where Kate was still scoffing down her huge breakfast and Rick, Ryan and Esposito were discussing Dancing with the Stars.

"Morning Detectives, Mr Castle," she greeted the group as she headed over to the espresso machine on the bench.

"_Morning Sir._" Came the chorused murmur of reply.

"Castle was discussing the rumours of him being invited to appear on this season's Dancing with the Stars, Sir. Would you vote for him? You have connections in IA, would they vote for him?" Ryan asked with a grin and a little sashay.

Esposito laughed and Kate choked on a mouthful of waffle.

"I _would_ vote for Mr Castle," the older woman confessed as she poured milk into the texturing jug. "And I'm sure with a little encouragement from my husband; every IA office in the service would cast a weekly vote too."

"That's awesome bro, with homicide and IA on your case you're bound to get the mirror ball trophy," Esposito teased.

"Don't forget the feds!" Kate piped up.

"Yeah, those guys too."

"Well it looks like you're going to have to say yes when Paula rings and asks if you want to go onto the show," Kate said to Rick as she drained her orange juice and started on her coffee. "Shall we go shopping for leather pants and sequins after work?"

Ryan and Esposito roared with laughter and Gates pressed her lips together in an effort to hide her amusement.

"Yes...well it's after nine o'clock detectives time to hit the books," she announced, looking at the watch on her right wrist. "Let's see if we can get the evidence room in order today, alright?"

"_Yes Sir._"

"I'll go help the boys sort out the evidence room you finish up your breakfast," Rick said to Kate sweeping down to kiss her on the lips and getting a mouthful of maple syrup.

"Okay thanks."

"Hang on a sec!" Ryan announced. "Javi and I got something for you, that's _essential_ to your job."

And before either Kate or Rick could respond the Irish detective ran out of the room and into the bullpen.

"Do I _want_ to know?" Kate asked Espo.

The Latino detective grinned.

"Just wait," he said. "You'll like it."

Kate scarfed down another two rashers of bacon before Ryan came back to the break room carrying a long triangular shaped package wrapped in newspaper and tied with a curly ribbon.

"The curly ribbon was Jenny's idea," he said, holding it out to Kate. "It's from Javi and me."

Kate took the package with an inquiring look and carefully unwrapped it. Within the wrappers was a brand new desk name sign with '_DET CASTLE_' on it. Her insides melted and she looked up at her friends with a huge smile.

"Thanks a lot guys, this is awesome," she said, running her fingertips over the new inscription.

"We figured you needed a new desk badge," Esposito revealed. "And instead of the service paying for a new one, we asked Gates if we could pay for it. Maybe your old Beckett one can go on your desk at home."

"Thanks a lot guys, it's very thoughtful," Kate replied happily. "The most practical present I've ever been given."

"Anyway, we'll leave you to finish breakfast. Gotta get into the evidence room before Gates busts our ass," Esposito said with a smile. "See you in there, alright?"

"You got it."

"I swear this room hasn't been cleaned out since before I joined the service!" Kate exclaimed later that afternoon as she, Rick, Ryan and Esposito along with Karpowski and Stegner cleaned out and cataloged every item in the evidence room. "Look at this, an _ancient_ cell phone from nineteen ninety two, it's a _brick!_"

Kate held up the brick like device. "I had something similar once," Rick joked. "God I feel _old_."

"You _look_ old,' Esposito teased as he put a box of bagged documents to the side to be sent down to archives. "_Grandpa_."

"Oh shut up."

The group of friends fell into a comfortable silence for several minutes more before the rustle of papers and snapping shut of lids was broken by Kate's iPhone trilling shrilly. The female detective dug into her jeans pocket and retrieved the buzzing device answering it promptly.

"_Beck-Castle_," she corrected herself

Rick grinned and caught his wife's eye before turning back to the box he was sorting through and letting her concentrate on the call. "Yup, uh huh that's good, alright be there in fifteen."

"We caught a case Boss?" Ryan asked.

"Yep, three twelve East twenty sixth," Kate replied. "Dead body in the storage room, let's hit the road."

"Awesome a solid case!" Esposito exclaimed. "This cataloging was doing my head in."

"Lucky bastards," Ray Stegner grumped, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he furiously scribbled notes down on a large writing pad. "Don't mind us Jane and I will just stay back doing all the grunt work."

"Oh, would you mind?" Kate joked, elbowing her older colleague. "You're the best at this sort of thing Ray."

"Ha ha, ass kisser."

"See you boys there?" Kate said to Esposito as they made their way into the bullpen.

"Yep, you calling it in with Gates?"

"Yeah, you get there canvass the area talk to CSU etcetera."

"You got it."

"I think you can drive this time," Kate said to Rick as she held out the keys to the Crown Vic. "I'm feeling a bit off."

"Are you alright?" Rick asked in surprise.

"I'm fine, just a little off colour," the female detective answered with a soft smile. "I'll go call it in with Gates."

"You got it."

Kate headed off to Gates' office and Rick went to his desk and pulled on his jacket. He checked his Glock making sure it was secure in its holster before waiting for Kate, she emerged from Gates' office moments later and grabbed her own jacket slipping it on as she strode toward the elevator.

"You sure about me driving?" Rick asked as he pressed the down button.

"Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit off, I'll be fine don't worry," Kate replied, flashing him a small smile. "I probably ate a bit too much at breakfast."

Rick stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the basement parking garage before reaching out and patting Kate's bloated belly. "I think it's a given you ate too much at breakfast," he teased. "That was a three person banquet."

"I know," Kate replied sheepishly. "I think I might have to change into my yoga tights when we get back, I actually had to take my belt off at lunch my pants were so uncomfortable."

Rick grinned. "You could always _take_ your pants off," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "I could help you _feel_ better."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Cool your jets, Special Agent Horny," she admonished dryly. "We have to pull back on the touchy feely stuff at the precinct okay? Not that I don't _want to_..."

Rick smiled and briefly squeezed his wife's hand. "I understand."

The pair reached the underground parking garage and quickly found their Crown Vic; they silently arrived at the Crime scene fifteen minutes later and parked right on the edge of the crime scene cordon.

"She let you drive, Castle?" Officer L.T called as Rick cut the engine and emerged from the driver's side. "Wish I had captured this moment on my cell. No one back at the twelfth will believe me when I tell them you drove a squad car."

"Oh ha _ha,_" Kate retorted rolling her eyes.

"A perk of being married to the lead investigator, I suppose," Rick joked as patrol officer let them under the crime scene tape. "Doubt it'll happen again, maybe before we head back to the precinct I can pose with the keys in my hand so you _can_ get a picture."

"You two boys going to muck around in the sand pit or are you actually going to help me with this investigation?" Kate asked Rick with the tiniest of smile's tugging at the corners of her lips. "Feel free to compare shovel sizes."

"Oooh I think I've been told," Rick said to L.T with a chuckle. "Catch you 'round LT."

"You too Castle."

"You're such a kid," Kate teased as they followed the flow of CSU technicians and uniformed officers that seemed to be heading in the direction of the crime scene. "People back at the precinct _will_ believe I let you drive the car."

"You sure about that?" Rick asked in amusement as they walked down a sloped driveway underneath a multi storeyed apartment block. "Five years I've been shadowing you and not once have you even come close to letting me drive it. I just want a picture for my own record. I'm still having trouble coming to terms with the fact I _did_ drive and I only cut the engine five minutes ago."

Kate just rolled her eyes.

The husband and wife team made their way into the depths of the parking garage and over to a small storage room where the centre of activity was. Inside Lanie was bent over a body that judging by the foul smell had been dead for several days. Kate turned a pasty shade of white immediately clapped a hand over her mouth and turned on her heel running out of the room and vomiting spectacularly into a drain grate. Rick went after her following the retching sounds til he found his wife leaning against a dusty old Citroen expelling the contents of her stomach over a railing and into a drain.

The female detective grabbed his hand and retched again til there was nothing left to bring up. "_Uugggggggggggggggggh,_" she groaned, spitting into the drain in an attempt to clear her mouth of the taste of vomit. "_Yuck!_"

"What caused that?" Rick asked in surprise, reaching into his jacket and pulling out his handkerchief. "I've never seen you barf at a crime scene..._here_."

Kate smile and took the handkerchief wiping her mouth and nose with it. "Thanks," she said. "I don't know! One minute I was feeling fine, a little bloated from breakfast and lunch the _BAM! _I had to be ill _ugh_."

A moment later while Kate was still bent over her hands on her knees Lanie emerged from the storage room a look of concern on her face.

"Hey girl, you okay?" she asked placing a hand on her best friend's arm. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Kate exclaimed. "I caught the smell of the body and had to barf straight away. That has _never_ happened to me in the twelve years I've been on the job!"

"Have you eaten anything funny in the last twenty four hours?" Lanie asked. "Something that was off or near to being off?"

"No, but I did have a really big breakfast and lunch." Kate replied. "And I've felt bloated all morning."

"Not nauseous?"

"Not in the slightest," Kate replied. "It just hit me like a truck, and left just as quick."

"That's probably because you brought up whatever was making you ill," Lanie reasoned. "D'you want to try and go back in or d'you want me to give you the heads up you here?"

"I'll go back in, I've got nothing left to bring up anyway," Kate replied. "You got something I can cover my mouth and nose with?"

"Yeah sure, come with me."

Kate followed her friend to the gurney outside the store room door and reached into her bag of tricks, pulling out a microfiber cloth.

"It's the best I can do I'm afraid," she said as Kate took he cloth, folded it and covered her mouth and nose with it. "D'you want a barf bag?"

"No, I'm fine. I've got nothing more to bring up," Kate replied, her voice muffled. "Let's get this over and done with and Rick and I can talk to any witnesses."

"What's the story?" Rick asked taking a notepad and pen out of his pocket and they entered the store room again.

"The vic is a white female, twenty to thirty found by a resident of the building," Lanie began crouching over a large duffel bag in which the victim had been stuffed. "Temp and lividity indicates she's been dead at least two days but level of decomp suggests at least ten days. Each knee and elbow appears to have been broken to fit her in the bag from my early examination and marks on her neck and head indicate strangulation and a head injury as COD. I'll know more once I get her back to the morgue."

"Who found the body?" Rick asked crouching down to inspect the victim.

"A resident who lives on the fourth floor," Lanie replied. "Javi was talking to him when I got here."

"Alright thanks Lanie, I better get out of here," Kate informed her friend apologetically. "If anything unusual pops up ring me or Rick okay?"

"You got it girl."

"I haven't been grossed out by a body like that in the whole time I've been in the job," Kate groaned as they headed back toward the driveway. "Jesus, I'm a homicide detective. I shouldn't be vomiting at a crime scene, word'll get back to the precinct and Gates will grill me now."

"I doubt that, only Lanie and the morgue attendants were around. CSU were at the other end of the parking garage," Rick replied. "And you were obscured by a bollard and that Citroen. I'm not going to tell Gates, I think you only barfed because you ate too much, d'you feel better?"

"Yeah a bit," Kate replied spying Ryan and Esposito by the CSU van and waving to catch their attention. "My mouth still tastes foul though, hey guys, what have we got?"

"No one saw _anything,_" Ryan began making a face. "Martin Smith, he lives in apartment forty two on the fourth floor. He discovered the body when he came to put some cardboard boxes in the recycling bin, he didn't see anyone dump the body there but he knows it wasn't there three days ago when the last lot of recycling was collected. He's upstairs in his apartment if you want to go and talk to him."

"We'll do that," Kate replied. "Any evidence of note?"

"Not yet but CSU haven't finished their full sweep yet, we're working on getting the CCTV footage form the apartment super and getting in contact with the truck driver who collected on the last scheduled recycle day to see if they saw anything."

"And I've got uniform questioning the business owners of the convenience store and dry cleaners over there to see if they have any info too," Esposito piped up, jabbing his thumb toward the two stores on the other side of the cordon.

"Great guys, thanks a lot. Hey Espo, d'you have any gum or those little grape candies you bought back from London?"

"Yeah, sure hang on."

The Latino detective dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out a packet of peppermint chewing gum he held it out to his friend and Kate took a piece closing her eyes in relief as the flavour washed away the taste of vomit and bile in her mouth.

"Thanks, I needed that;" she said gratefully. "Let me know if anything comes up but otherwise I'll see you back at the precinct, okay?"

"You got it Chica."

"Great, no one's seen anything. It would have to be us to catch a case where that happens," Kate complained as they headed for the main entrance of the apartment building. "How do we do it?"

"Uhm natural talent?" Rick suggested with a snort of laughter as he held the door open for her. "Or maybe just dispatch purposely assign us the weird ones."

"A bit of both I think."

Wordlessly the two partners made their way up to the fourth floor and along the hallway til they came to apartment forty two, Kate lifted a fist and knocked smartly on the door her hand on her badge. A moment later there was a click of a lock and the door opened a crack revealing a tall well built blond man.

"Yeah?" he inquired.

"Martin Smith?" Kate enquired holding up her badge., "Detective Kate Castle NYPD this is my partner Special Agent Richard Rodgers from the FBI can we come in?"

* * *

A/N2: I don't expect any reviews for this chapter, but there is some method in my madness.


	3. Woozy

A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the third Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'Woozy' I apologize profusely for the delay in updating but my puter has been in hospital for the last week I don't know when I'm getting it back and I've had few opportunities to borrow my landlord/housemate's laptop to finish off my work. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it!

* * *

"Well, _that_ helped," Kate declared sarcastically, half an hour later after questioning Martin White. "Now we just have to sit tight and wait on forensics and anything Ryan and Espo get out of the store owners across the street."

His wife's sudden and uncharacteristic impatience surprised Rick and he raised a singular eyebrow. "I'm not used to hearing you this impatient til a bit further down in an investigation," he commented mildly as they reached the elevator and she began hammering on the down button. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Kate replied shortly, flipping open her pad and scanning her notes. "We don't know who our vic is, how she died, _why_ she died, who killed her, how long she's been in the bag, how long she's been in the storage room _or_ why anyone would want her killed. We've got squat information which just makes my job harder..._God that's irritating!_"

"Kate, you've been a homicide cop for eight years and in that whole time not once have you solved a case on the day you caught it," Rick informed his agitated partner as they stepped into the elevator. "It takes time, you of all people know that."

Kate frowned as she flipped through her notes. "I know, I'm just not in a patient mood today," she muttered. "I feel crap enough at it is and don't need anyone to test my patience."

"You still feeling nauseous?" Rick asked.

"A little woozy," Kate admitted. "Depending on how the rest of the day goes, I might lay down for a few minutes in the break room. I'll try popping a couple of Excedrin's before I try that though."

"Don't push yourself," Rick urged his wife. "If you're feeling crap, go home and let me, Kevin and Javier get the investigation off the ground. You can trust us and we can bring you up to speed on anything we discover tomorrow."

"_No!_" Kate snapped. "I'm the lead detective in this case. I have to be on top of things, know what's going on. I can't rest on this case til we charge a perpetrator and hand things off to the DA."

"Alright, if you're sure," Rick replied, knowing for the time being it was best to let Kate go. "But I _will_ make you go home if you start getting run down, got it?"

"_Hmmmm._"

* * *

"Alright, let's gather what we've got," Kate announced two hours later once the team had re-gathered back at the precinct. "Espo, what did you and Ryan manage to find out?"

"We first talked to Rakesh Singh and his wife Shruti," the Latino detective replied, jotting down notes on the murder board. "They run the convenience store directly opposite the apartment block and live in a two bedroom place above their shop. Two days ago around nine PM they noticed a black Dodge sedan parked illegally in a loading zone just down from the entrance to the parking garage but it appeared to be unattended. At closing they noticed it had gone so didn't think anything of it."

"Number plate?" Kate asked, a hopeful look upon her face.

"No...the vehicle was too far away for them to get a decent visual," Esposito replied. "There were trash cans on the sidewalk ready for collection so their line of vision was obscured."

"_Damn,_" Kate responded. "Had they noticed any suspicious activity in the days prior to the discovery of the body?"

"Nothing unusual, y'know shoplifting, exterior vandalism, some punks grafitti'd their roller doors two nights ago."

"Alright, Kevin...what about the dry cleaners next door?" Kate asked turning to the Irish detective.

"A little more luck there," Ryan replied, taking the whiteboard pen from Esposito and starting to jot down his own notes. "Connie and Albert Leung run the dry cleaners and three days ago they noticed a young white Caucasian man in his mid twenties wearing dark colored clothing, hanging around the entrance to the parking garage. He was wearing a dark hoodie with the Nike logo on it a baseball cap and sunglasses and would walk up and down the sidewalk apparently doing nothing. He did this for about an hour and a half and left once the garbage truck came to collect the recycling bins. I've already gotten onto tech in an attempt to retrieve the footage from the CCTV cameras from the area."

"Great, it's small but it's something to go on," Kate said in relief. "We've started an investigation on less, hopefully when Lanie gets an ID on our vic, we'll be able to go further from there."

"Lanie said you were ill at the scene," Ryan said hesitatingly after a few moments of contemplative silence. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah thanks guys, just a bit off colour, probably a twenty four hour bug," Kate replied flashing her friend a small smile then turning to the murder board and drawing a kill zone graph at the top. "I've felt worse before, don't worry about me."

"Just take it easy, alright?" Esposito cautioned. "You haven't gone hard at an investigation for weeks, don't over tax yourself."

"Espo, I thank you for your concern but I'm _fine_," Kate informed her friend mildly. "Really, would it help if I sat down?" She dropped down into her chair the tiniest of smiles tugging at the corners of her lips. "Maybe put my feet up?" she continued, kicking off her boots and lifted her feet onto the edge of her desk. "I left my quilt and pillow at home; otherwise I'd move the murder board into the break room and snuggle down on the couch."

Rick and Ryan roared with laughter and Esposito rolled his eyes.

"Ha _ha_," he retorted as Kate wiggled her purple painted toes at him. "_Smartass._"

"While we're waiting for tech to get back to us with the security camera vision and Lanie with an ID on our vic...how about we hit up any missing persons reports?" Rick suggested as Kate sat up and pulled her boots back on. "We might be able to catch an early clue there. We know the vic is between eighteen and thirty five with dark blonde hair and at the most died ten days ago. If we trawl through the last two weeks of missing person's reports we might get something."

"Good idea, get onto it with Ryan and Espo and I'll join you in a minute," Kate replied, getting to her feet. "I just need to fetch something from my locker."

For the rest of the afternoon Kate, Rick, Ryan and Esposito toiled over the missing person's reports for the last two weeks in an effort to find the identity of that afternoon's victim. Kate was totally engrossed on the task when Gates emerged from her office and caught the female detective's attention.

"Detective Castle, a minute please," she requested.

Kate looked up in surprise.

"Go on, we're good here," Rick urged her with a tired smile. "There's only an hour til knock off anyway."

"Okay."

Kate got to her feet and stretched before striding across the bullpen floor and into her superior's office.

"Take a seat," Gates requested, indicating to one of the worn but comfortable bucket seats on the other side of her desk. "I won't keep you long, I know you're busy."

_Shit she knows I was sick at the scene this afternoon!_ Kate groaned inwardly using all her self control to keep a straight face. _Shit shit shit!'_

"Kate?" Gates inquired. "Are you with me?"

"Sorry Sir, my mind was on the case," Kate apologised, sheepishly feeling her cheeks warm in embarrassment.

Gates cast a look indicating she knew her best detective was lying. "I'll start again," she said, amusement lacing her tone. "I did ask, what are your career ambitions? Do you have any desires to further your career, maybe ascending to a higher rank?"

This question surprised Kate and she looked her superior directly in the eyes.

"To be honest...I haven't really thought about it," she confessed. "When I entered the service I only intended on staying as long as it took to find out who killed my mother and bring them to justice."

"And now that that's happened?" Gates inquired. "D'you wish to stay right where you are?"

"I haven't really thought about it," Kate repeated, becoming ever so confused by Gates' questioning. "I love my job and I want to stay in it. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't a cop. Bringing justice to others is my _thing_. I'm good at it and I love it. Ryan and Esposito are my boys and Castle is my partner. Why do you ask? You've never asked me about my career aspirations before, Sir."

Gates took a deep breath and regarded several sheets of paper in front of her. "I want you to take the Sergeant's exam," she said. "You're the best cop in the department, Kate and in my opinion...the best cop in the entire precinct. I think you'd flourish with more authority."

"_Pardon?_" Kate exclaimed incredulously. "You want me to-"

"Take the Sergeant's exam," Gates finished. "Kate, you can _do _this. You could be a Lieutenant by thirty seven and Captain of this department by forty...you're that good."

"I have enough paperwork to do as a third grade detective," Kate informed her boss. "If I ascended to Sergeant, Lieutenant then Captain, I'd never go out on the field. I would go _nuts_ if I was stuck behind a desk all the time."

"No, you wouldn't," Gates replied. "You could revolutionize the job, Kate. You could change what a Captain does. I don't go out on the field much because all my detectives make it so I don't need to. I have the best team I've ever worked with out there in the bullpen. I go out on the field to keep myself fresh. By the time you get to this side of a desk, things will have changed, you won't _need_ to do the amount of paperwork I do. You'll be the boss of a department and you'll be able to do whatever the hell you want."

"What about Trevor?" Kate asked, jerking her head in the direction of the bullpen where Trevor Eggerstrom was at his desk furiously typing away at his computer. "He's the department Lieutenant; he's your 2 IC and the one that should take over from you when you retire or resign."

"Kate, Trevor's fifty seven years old. Eight years off retirement age," Gates replied. "And he's signaled to me that he has no intention of progressing any further up the rank ladder. It's his intention to retire at sixty five. By that time I want you to be in a position to take over from him. I want _you_ to be the one who takes over from me when I vacate the Captain's chair. You _know_ this department. I want the transition from me to you to go more smoothly than it did when I came to the chair after Roy."

Kate just sat in the chair opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.

"And besides with each rank comes a pay rise," Gates joked.

"Well, I wasn't thinking about _that,_" Kate replied. "It's the job not the pay packet I love."

"I know and that's why I'm asking you to seriously consider taking the Sergeant's exam," Gates replied. "You're the people's cop, Kate and the sort of person that needs to ascend to a higher rank and help revolutionize the job of a police officer. You as a top cop would be the best PR the NYPD could have after what Hargraves did to disgrace the uniform."

"You want me to become a 'top cop' just for image's sake?" Kate exclaimed making air quotations with her fingers.

"_No,_" Gates replied. "I want you to ascend to a higher rank because I think you'd flourish with the extra responsibility. You'd become a better cop."

"What about my partnership with Rick?" Kate asked. "And Ryan and Esposito? I'm not going to take the Sergeant's exam if it means leaving them behind. They're my team. They're _why_ I'm a good cop."

You wouldn't have to leave them behind, Kate. They can move with you," Gates replied. "Rick is a consultant; he could follow you to the Commissioner's office if you ever decided to go that far in your career. I'm going to ask them to consider going up the ranks too. If you pass the Sergeant's exam, I'm going to recommend to the Bureau Chief they be promoted to third grade detective, then when you get to Lieutenant, they go up to Sergeant. This department needs you three to stick together. And you all deserve a promotion."

"I'll do it if I can keep my team," Kate agreed. "Otherwise forget it. Ask Karpowski, Jamieson or Stegner to do it. They've been in the job longer than I have. I'm the youngest cop in this department."

"No one else wants to go higher in rank," Gates revealed. "Jane, Brian and Ray all have young families and don't want to spend any more time away from them than they already do. You, Ryan and Esposito are the only ones that don't have dependents."

"That's going to change though," Kate replied. "Rick and I are trying for a family and I know Kevin and Jenny and Lanie and Javi are too. If I have a baby in the next twelve months, I'm going to be on maternity leave and away from the bullpen, you'll be an officer short."

"We can get someone in," Gates countered. "Once you, Ryan and Esposito go up a rung, we'll be an officer down in numbers. I'm thinking of recommending Ann Hastings to the job. She's going ahead in leaps and bounds in Vice and I believe harbours ambitions to break into homicide. Ryan and Esposito can train her up while you're on maternity leave."

"You've thought about this a lot," Kate said dryly.

"I have," Gates replied. "You know Kate, I never thought I'd have to work this hard to convince you."

Kate chuckled. "I thought you might've been joking," she said.

"Have I ever joked to you?" Gates replied with a raised eyebrow.

"No Sir, no you haven't."

"So you'll consider sitting the exam?" Gates repeated.

"Yeah...I'll do it," Kate replied. "God, I'm going to have to turn back into a bookworm. I haven't been a study nut since I was in college."

"I have confidence you'll ace your exams," Gates declared confidently, retrieving a form from the many pieces of paper on her desk. "I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't think you could do it. Fill this out and get it back to me before you head home and I'll get the information you need, the core subjects and regulations you'll have to go through to pass."

"Erm...can I tell my team about this, Sir?" Kate asked, taking the form and folding it. "They're my boys and they deserve to know."

"Of course you can tell them, but keep the fact I'm going to recommend Ryan and Esposito ascend to third grade between us for now, alright?" Gates replied. "I want to wait til you've passed your exams before I tell them."

"Of course, I understand," Kate answered getting to her feet. "Thank you for thinking so much of me, Sir."

"_Everyone_ in the job thinks a lot of you, Kate, especially outside the precinct. You really should have more confidence about your abilities," Gates informed the female detective. "You're the best I've ever worked with and want you to go as far as you can in this job."

"Thanks."

With a smile Kate turned and left Gates' office, returning to the bullpen and three men who had expectant looks upon her faces.

"_Well?_" they chorused.

"Well what?" Kate responded as she began sorting out the folders she has been trawling through all day.

"What did Gates want?" Rick asked.

"I'll tell you all at the Old Haunt after shift," Kate replied. "First round's on me?"

"_We're in._" Ryan and Esposito chorused.

Rick regarded his wife a curiously over a huge pile of missing person's reports, she met his eyes and flashed him a small smile.

"Old Haunt Rick, you won't have to wait long," she said softly. "Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

An hour after emerging from Gates' office Kate began packing up for the day.

"Alright guys, that's it let's pack up for the day. There's no more we can do til tomorrow," she announced as she began shutting down her computer. "Old Haunt in an hour?"

"First round still on you?" Ryan asked cheekily.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Yes and seeing as you mentioned it, second one's on you," she shot back.

"_Burn,_" Esposito piped up.

"Shut up dude."

"We'll meet you there, bring Lanie and Jenny," Kate went on stacking the missing person's reports into a box.

"Got it."

Ryan and Esposito packed up then left the precinct and Kate and Rick followed shortly after.

"Feeling better?" Rick asked cautiously holding out his hand to her.

"Not really," the female detective replied, lacing her fingers through his. "I'm not as woozy as I was at the precinct but I still feel a bit blah. The Excedrin I had earlier helped."

"D'you feel hungry?" Rick asked. "Alexis always used to feel hungry after barfing when she was small."

"A bit," Kate replied, stepping into the elevator. "I've been sucking on mints since we got back from the scene, so that's tapered my appetite a bit."

"Promise me you'll go to the doctor if you start feeling worse," Rick pleaded as the doors shut and the elevator began descending. "You've worked when you've been ill before and it's never ended well."

"I promise," Kate replied, giving his hand a little squeeze. "When d'you have to go back to the field office?"

"Not for another week, Brian said to me this morning when I collected my gun and ID that he would call me in if he needed me. So I am all _yours_ for the next week, Mrs Castle. Think you could find some mischief for me to get into?"

Kate let out an amused snort of laughter. "You're more than capable of finding your own mischief to get into...Writer Monkey,' she teased. "You've demonstrated your skill in getting into trouble quite independently of my help."

"Awesome, so I have a whole week to find some trouble to get into before I have to head back to the field office and start behaving myself again," Rick said gleefully. "I'm going to have to think about what mischief I can get up to."

"Uh oh, that sounds dangerous," Kate responded dryly.

"You know me, Tulip. I'm extraordinarily dangerous," Rick joked smacking his wife on the backside.

"You're just trying to wind me up, you ass," Kate shot back dryly, leaning into her husband's embrace as he squeezed her backside and kissed her on the temple. "No butt slapping in the precinct."

"Aw, but we're _alone,_" Rick whispered in her ear, causing an electric shock of arousal shoot up her spine.

"Rick...we're never alone," Kate sighed as the Writer turned Special Agent's hands became progressively more adventurous. "There are CCTV cameras on every corner _and if you keep on doing __**THAT**__**,**__ I'm going to be forced to go down to tech in the morning and hack into the security system and delete the footage of the __**camera in the elevator!**_"

Rick placed one last wide open mouthed kiss on her neck and dropped his hands from her breasts. "CCTV sucks," he complained, lacing his fingers through hers again.

"It sucks for _you__,_" Kate joked. "When we're on the job, it's great but you only seem to think it sucks when you want to get touchy feely a work."

"I knew there was a reason I liked archives and the evidence room," Rick replied with a chuckle. "Who knew those roller boxes were so sturdy."

"You broke one the first time we did it in there," Kate pointed out.

"And I replaced it," the Writer replied, blushing hard and the elevator arrived in the basement parking garage. "I think redwood desks are sturdier."

"Rick, I am _not_ going to have sex with you on Gates' desk!" Kate hissed as they exited the lift and headed toward the Prancing Horse. "Get that idea out of your head right now, it _ain't happenin'__._"

The writer's shoulders slumped. "I'll just keep it as a fantasy," he mumbled. "Something to get me through the day."

Kate threw back her head and laughed heartily the corners of her eyes crinkling up and causing Rick's chest to swell with love and admiration for his wife.

"How about _your_ desk?" he added a hopeful look upon his face.

"Nope."

"Kevin's?"

"No."

"Espo's?"

"Aaarrghh _Rick!_" Kate exclaimed. "Javi's my best friend, I am _not_ going to 'do it' on his desk."

Rick bit his lips in an effort not to collapse in a fit of laughter. "D-Demming's down in robbery-" he began.

"Now I know you're just being stupid."

* * *

A short time later, the pair of newlyweds arrived at the Old Haunt. Rick parked the Prancing Horse behind the old bar and hand in hand with Kate made his way through the front door. Though it was early in the week the popular bar still entertained several patrons with two of the four pool tables occupied and both dart boards hosting lively contests, the female detective and Special Agent navigated through the crowd to the back of the bar where the twelfth precinct booth was.

"What would you like?" Rick asked shucking off his coat and hanging it on an nearby hook.

"Virgin Appletini," Kate replied with a soft smile.

Rick raided an eyebrow at his wife's unusual request. "Nothing alcoholic?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Nah, still feeling a bit woozy...if I drink anything alcoholic, it'll only add to the blah," Kate replied, flashing him a smile she reserved only for him.

"Alright then."

Kate settled back in the booth and trained her eyes on her partner-_husband_-Even now five weeks later she still sometimes had trouble believing she was now Mrs Kate Castle-as he greeted Jamie the night manager and went behind the bar to fix their drinks. Her attention was totally focused on her man that she didn't notice Lanie and Esposito arrive or Lanie wave her hand in front of her love struck friend's face.

"Sunshine, put your tongue back in your head!" the sassy ME teased tapping her friend's jaw. "Panting in public is not cool."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she retorted embracing her friend. "And what's with 'Sunshine'?"

"It was Javi's idea," Lanie explained.

"You know...like the band?" Esposito began. "KC and the Sunshine band, KC are your new initials."

The female detective once again rolled her eyes at her friend's explanation. "Oh ha ha _hardi _har," she groaned. "Very droll."

"Creative though," Esposito returned. "I'm going to help Mr Sunshine with the drinks; you girls can plait hair and talk about boys."

"So...how are you feeling?" Lanie asked Kate as they watched Esposito walk over to the bar.

"Better than at the scene," Kate replied. "I've been drinking lots of water and sucking on mints since Rick and I got back to the precinct. I'm still a bit nauseous but not as bad as earlier."

Lanie turned and reached into her bag pulling out a bottle of Ginger root pills. "I got you these during my break," she informed her friend pushing the jar across the table. "They're good for nausea and general blahness. Take one four times a day and keep your fluids up and if the nausea persists go to your doctor and get some antiemetic medication."

"Thanks...I'll start taking them," Kate promised, stowing the pills in her handbag. "Are Kevin and Jenny coming?"

Lanie shook her head. "No...Kevin sent Javi a text saying he was taking a rain check because Jenny wasn't well and he wanted to stay home and look after her," she replied. "How'd it go once you got back to the precinct?"

"Alright, we all spent the rest of the day waiting on tech to get us the CCTV footage from the surrounding cameras and going through missing person's reports in the meantime," Kate replied. "Boring if I'm to be truthful, hopefully tomorrow will bring a new lead."

"Well, a few drinks and a decent night's sleep and you'll get up tomorrow with fresh eyes," Lanie informed her friend optimistically. "Ooh I have a bit of news!"

"You're pregnant?" Kate exclaimed.

Lanie gave an uncharacteristic giggle and blushed. "No, but I might be soon," she confessed. "Javi and I talked about it last night and we're going to start trying for a family this cycle. He wants to be a Dad and I want to be a Mom, he even bought me a little onesie with 'Mommy's Little Intern' embroidered on the front last week."

Kate swooned. "That's so _cute!_" she exclaimed. "You've been checked out by your doctor? Rick and I went to our doctors last week and got all the tests done."

"Yeah, we've done that and as my doctor said 'there's nothing stopping us from going ahead and making lots of little ME's and Detectives." Lanie informed her friend.

Kate threw back her head and laughed heartily. "My doctor has that sort of humour," she said in amusement. "Rick told me during the week, whenever we have kids, he wants to get the first one a baby sized bullet proof vest."

"The _first_ one?" Lanie teased. "The first one? So are you going to have 'lots of little Castle babies'?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I knew you and Maddie spending time together wouldn't be a good thing," she groaned. "But for want of a better phrase _yes_ we are going to have 'lots of little Castle babies' Rick loves kids and wants a big family. I do too. We don't want to end up like the Duggars, but unofficially four seems a nice number."

Lanie lit up. "Oh sweetie that's _lovely!_" she exclaimed.

Kate went pink. "Yeah it is," she replied. "Rick reasons his desire for a big family stems from growing up as an only child. In part it does for me too, I wasn't as lonely growing up as he was but I always wanted a brother or sister but Mom and Dad couldn't have any after me. I don't want my kids to be lonely in any way. What about you and Javi? Going for the nice big Latino family?"

"Well not as big as Javi's," Lanie replied. "He's one of seven and said to me a couple of days ago that he doesn't want his kids to line up to use the bathroom like he used to a lot as a kid. We haven't decided on a number, we're just going have them and stop when the number we have seems enough."

"You've _got_ to tell me when you find out you're pregnant," Kate insisted her green eyes alive with excitement. "And then I'm going to organise the biggest baby shower Manhattan's ever seen."

"And I'll do the same for you," Lanie promised, turning her head as Rick and Esposito left the bar carrying two drinks each. "Hey boys."

"_Ladeeeeeez_," Rick joked, placing Kate's virgin Appletini in front of her and sliding into the booth next to her, a large tumbler of Courvoisier cradled in his hands.

"So what did you and Gates talk about back at the precinct?" Esposito asked. "What's the big news?"

Kate sipped her Appletini then chewed on the curl of ginger root Rick had hooked over the edge of the glass. "She wants me to take the Sargent's exam." She revealed.

In perfect unison Rick, Lanie and Esposito's eyes bugged and they choked on their drinks.

"_Really?_" Esposito exclaimed. "Congratulations Chica, that's _awesome_ news!"

"Totally," Lanie agreed.

"So...are you going to do it?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, I am. She convinced me to," Kate replied. "I wasn't enthusiastic about it in the beginning because ascending to a higher rank usually means leaving your team and leading another, usually in another precinct. I told Gates I would only take the exam if I could stay with my team. She said if I ascended to a higher rank I can take whoever I want with me, _THAT'S_ when I said yes."

"So when's the exam date?" Lanie asked.

"I don't know yet," Kate replied. "Gates said to me she'll inform the bureau chief of my desire to take the Sergeants exam tomorrow and will go about getting all the paperwork I need to fill in and the timetable of classes and subjects I'll need to study in order to pass. I'll probably have to take days off from the precinct and go to the academy to take classes. I'll have to turn into a study nut. I haven't been like that since I was in college."

"Ah...you'll ace the exam," Esposito informed his friend confidently. "I bet you were surprised when she dropped that on you. The look on your face when you came out-"

"I was," Kate confessed, leaning into Rick's embrace as he put a muscular arm around her and drew her close. "I was expecting a request for an update on the case we caught today."

"Well if you need a study buddy, let me know. I'm great at helping people with revision," Esposito offered. "I did it all the time when I went through the academy. I get you to the point where you can take the Cap's exam."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Javi, me taking the Captain's exam is a _long_ way off," she scoffed. "If at all. I didn't even plan on being a Sargent. I only ever planned on staying in the job long enough to catch Mom's killers and bring them to justice."

"And now that's happened?" the Latino detective inquired.

"I've come to love the job," Kate answered, smiling as Rick began tracing circles on the point of her shoulder with his thick fingers. "Now that the men responsible for taking Mom from Dad and me-are before the courts, I've realised though the reasons for me coming to the job were misguided but the reasons for me staying in it-aren't. I love everyone at the precinct and getting justice for others who have suffered what I have, becoming a Sargent and even a Captain one day is a progression of the job and yet another reason to love it. And by ascending to a higher rank, my ability to help people increases."

"And you can continue to bask in the awesomeness that is the Rysposito Dream Team," Esposito joked, puffing his chest out cockily.

Lanie and Kate groaned and rolled their eyes and Rick let out a snort of laughter.

"You're delusional Javier Esposito," Kate shot back as the tiniest of smiles tugged at the corners of her mouth. "If anyone is a dream team, it's Castle and I."

"Actually, I'll agree with that," Esposito replied with a chuckle. "Most of the team in Homicide would."

"I told Gates whatever I do, whatever rank I ascend to, I want to take you and Kevin with me." Kate informed her friend. "You guys and Castle are the reason I'm so good at my job."

"So what if you get to Commissioner?" Esposito asked cheekily.

"Then you two can have a paper, rock, scissors competition to decide who gets to be my deputy," Kate replied with a snort of laughter, before her tone turned more serious. "I'm not going to be Commissioner, I don't _want _to be Commissioner. I want to be a cop on the ground not behind a desk. I'm not entirely sure I want to be Captain one day, even though Gates thinks I'd be a good one."

"You _would_ be a good one," Rick said, sipping at his drink. "You're a good leader. You must be to get the Rysposito monster to listen to you."

Esposito rolled his eyes and Lanie and Kate laughed.

"Ha ha hardi _har_," he groaned. "Very _funny_."

"I thought so," Rick replied cheekily, draining the last of his Courvoisier and getting to his feet. "How about a fill up?"

* * *

"How are you feeling now?" Rick asked Kate several hours later as they began getting ready for bed.

Kate popped one of the ginger pills Lanie had given her and washed it down with a mouthful of water.

"Neither better or worse," she replied with a sigh as she squirted toothpaste into her toothbrush and rinsed it under the tap. "Lanie gave me these ginger pills, she reckons they'll help the nausea go away. That was the first one."

Rick loosely wrapped his arm around his wife's slender waist and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I hope they work for you," he murmured. "You're still taking those pre-natal vitamins?"

"Uh huh," Kate replied, her reply muffled by a mouthful of toothpaste foam. "'M t'king 'ore pills th'n w'en I w's in 'oppital after the shootin'"

"I think I understood that reply," Rick replied with a chuckle. "So we've just got to wait for things to happen, hmm?"

Kate spit out her mouthful of foam and rinsed her toothbrush. "Yeah," she replied softly, uncapping the bottle of Listerine and pouring a measure of it into a cup. "It'll happen soon Rick. We haven't been trying properly for long. Few couples get pregnant straight away."

Rick leaned across the vanity unit and watched his wife as she rinsed her mouth. "I know that," he replied with a resigned sigh. "I just want to have a baby with you so badly."

Kate spat out the Listerine the rinsed with water. "I feel the same," she informed him, wiping her mouth then reaching for her hairbrush that she proceeded to run through her brunette locks. "I found myself browsing online for nursery furniture on my phone during our break this afternoon once we got back to the precinct."

I didn't think you were playing Angry Birds," Rick teased. "Find anything you like?"

Kate smiled. "A few things," she confessed, setting her brush down. "I emailed myself links to the nursery furniture I liked. I can show you tomorrow during lunch if you like."

Rick reached for her hand and laced his thick fingers through hers. "Sounds good," he replied softly. "Now...let's get some rest we've had a big day.

* * *

A/N2: Reviews feed the beast!


	4. TestingTesting

A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the fourth Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'Testing...Testing...' I hope you enjoy reading as much as I have writing. I apologise for any geographical errors. The New York/Manhattan area is not familiar to me but I have used what resources I have to be as accurate as possible.

On with the show!

* * *

"Two weeks!" Rick announced as he and Kate emerged from the lift and entered the Homicide Department bullpen toward the end of June. "Two _whole_ weeks since I've been here."

"And we've _aaaaaaall_ missed you, Special Agent Writer Boy," Esposito teased, sticking his head out of the break room door. "How you doing, bro?"

Rick grinned and fist bumped his friend. "Great," he replied brightly, heading straight to the espresso machine. "Being kept busy at the field office, you?"

"Being kept busy too, I'm going through missing person's reports for the body in the sports bag job from a couple of weeks ago."

"_Still?_" Rick responded in surprise.

"Yup, the team's caught four fresh ones since then and with you being caught up at the field office we've been one down. With you back on board, we can make some inroads into finding out who the vic is."

"We've each been working a separate case," Kate elaborated, fishing her and Rick's mugs out of the cupboard. "But we're not making many inroads. Maybe having a pair of fresh eyes will help things along a bit."

"I'll dive in and give it my best shot," the Writer replied amiably as he poured milk into the texturing jug. "Where's Honey Milk?"

"With Jenny, she's still sick and he's taking her to the doctor's," Esposito replied. "Apparently she's not been able to keep much more than rice crackers and fruit juice down for the last couple of weeks. He's going to take her to the doctor's then home where one of her sisters is going to come and look after her til he gets home."

Kate swore. "I hope everything turns out alright," she voiced in concern. "I noticed Jenny looking a bit green last week when we went out for coffee after shift."

"Apparently Mrs Honey Milk doesn't think it's any big deal, but you know our boy. He's being a worry wart, their appointment would be about now," Esposito went on looking at his watch. "He said he'd be in by lunch."

"We can get started without him and bring him up to speed whenever he comes in," Kate said, opening the biscuit tin that was in the shape of an old London Bobby's helmet and peering in. "Oh great, Karpowski's made a fresh batch of chocolate ripples!"

"You just ate half a pig's worth of bacon and a carton of scrambled eggs at Angelo's," Rick teased. "And you're _still_ hungry?"

"Yea'bit," Kate replied her mouth full of chocolate cookie. "_Iluffjanescookies_."

"Oh, so _you're_ the one pinching all my cookies!" Jane Karpowski teased Kate as she entered the break room. "I have to make two batches a week just to keep this place supplied."

Kate's eyes bugged and she choked on the mouthful of cookie and her mouth immediately triggering a bout of hacking coughs. Rick and Esposito tried, but they couldn't withhold their amusement at Kate's embarrassment and bent over roaring with laughter.

"They taste nice!" Kate yelped defending herself.

"We-w-w-wouldn't know, you scoff them all before we can taste for ourselves," Esposito snorted as he struggled to control himself.

"_Oh ESPO!_" Kate wailed. "Be nice!"

Karpowski chuckled as she retrieved her own mug from the cupboard over the fridge. "I don't mind you scoffing them all, Castle," she informed her colleague cheerfully. "I do bring them in for everyone to have. My twin girls are convinced they help everyone in the bullpen 'catch the bad guys.'"

"If that's the case, with the amount Kate's scoffing down-the NYPD will be out of business by the end of the week," Rick quipped grinning and flashing a wink at his red faced wife as he extracted a shot of coffee into her mug. "So keep baking Jane then we can have some long service leave."

Kate grabbed one of the tatty cushions from the break room sofa and threw it at her husband. "_Shuddup,_" she said, her mouth full of cookie. "_B'have yourself._"

"Oh, get a room you two!" Esposito exclaimed, accepting a mug of coffee from Rick. "Thanks bro."

Kate poked her chocolaty tongue out at him.

* * *

Rick was hard at work at his desk helping Kate, Ryan and Esposito with paperwork when his iPhone cradled in a little Darth Vader cell phone holder Kate had given him for his birthday-began to trill. Rubbing his eyes he shifted aside a stack of folder and reached for the trilling device.

"Coffee?" Kate asked holding up her mug.

"Thanks sweetheart," the Writer replied with a tired smile as he swiped his thumb across the screen. "_Castle._"

"Hey Castle, it's Tony Backhouse. How are you going pal?" the voice of Rick's long time real-estate portfolio manager piped down the line.

"Good, busy but good," Rick replied exhaling as he slumped back in his seat. "What d'you know?"

"Depends, what d'you want to know?" Tony joked. "Seriously though, I think I may have found a house for you and your lovely wife."

"Seriously?" Rick exclaimed in surprise. "I never thought you would find one, give me the deets."

"It came up out of nowhere;" Tony continued. "A client rang for a free appraisal last week and listed it yesterday privately with me. He's retired and his adult children have moved out of home so he and his wife are moving to Florida. It's a colonial style two and a half story double brick property with six bedrooms a downstairs study overlooking the backyard three bathrooms, a sauna two and a half car garage and an attic bedroom. The master bedroom has a balcony that overlooks the yard and the property is bordered by a sandstone fence. The interior paint job is a foul pale pink almost white color and new carpet needs to be laid upstairs. The kitchen is seventies style mission brown and burned orange, but I figured you and Kate wouldn't care about that much."

"What does he want for it?" Rick asked eagerly.

"Three point five nine mill," Tony replied. "I think he's asking quarter of a mil too much for the market as it is right now. If the flooring, paint job and kitchen fittings were new, I'd agree on his asking price."

"Where is it?"

"Queens," Tony replied. "Forest Hills Gardens specifically a quiet and private part of the borough. There are schools, café's, and touristy hot spots, great place to bring up a family. I haven't listed it publicly yet, I wanted to ring you and see if you and Kate were interested before I did."

"I am _definitely_," Rick told his business partner enthusiastically. "Email me the pictures and I'll show Kate. The paint job and kitchen fittings are immaterial."

"Stand by, they'll be in your inbox within five minutes," Tony replied cheerfully. "You'll love this place, Castle. I know it's not in the area you were thinking but it's close to the twelfth and field office, but I saw it and it pinged."

"Thanks for the call, I'll ring you back and make a time to inspect it," Rick informed the agent. "I gotta get back to work."

"Me too, see you soon pal."

Rick hung up and got to his feet making his way into the break room, Kate was by the espresso machine and her brow furrowed and streaks of mascara running down her cheeks. His stomach fell through the floor and he closed the door behind him striding across the room to where she stood, her shoulders shaking their coffee mugs in front of them untouched.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked in concern, wrapping his muscular arms around her shoulders and drawing her close.

Kate buried her face in his neck and totally broke down. "I-I-I d-don' know!" she wailed. "Since I woke up this morning I've felt depressed. I was just getting the milk out the fridge and I started crying and I can't stop."

"Did you spill any?" Rick joked, eager to put a smile on his wife's face.

"Oh ha _ha_," she murmured, chuckling through a hiccup. "I've been feeling blah since we got back from our honeymoon and my mood swings have been ridiculous. One minute I feel fine and the next moment I'm feeling angry or teary. I didn't even have mood swings like this when Mom died."

"I want you to do something for me after work," Rick asked, pulling a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and gently wiping her face clean.

"Hmm? And what's that?" Kate asked.

"Go to the pharmacy around the corner from Angelo's and get yourself a pregnancy test," Rick replied softly.

"You think I'm pregnant, _already?_"

"Yeah I do," Rick replied pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I know we haven't been trying long but we got married seven weeks ago and you went off the pill three months ago. You _could_ be. Buy a test. It can't hurt to find out. And if you get a positive, make an appointment to see your doctor for a blood test to confirm it. I'll be with you every step of the way."

Kate nodded against his chest. "Alright, I'll do it," she promised with a sigh. "If I am pregnant, I hope my whole pregnancy isn't like I've been feeling these last few weeks. I mean we haven't been intimate since we got home from Paris, I haven't _felt_ like doing anything more than hugging."

"That's alright," Rick crooned as he soothingly rubbed her back. "I can live without it, and it's good we haven't done anything since we got home from Paris. You wreck me in the bedroom and I need to recharge my batteries."

"Oh _PFFT__,_I do _not_ wreck you," Kate scoffed. "Not once in the whole time we've been together-have I made you pass out…the day Lanie rang me from Paris and told me Espo proposed, you made me pass out then once in Bora Bora and _three_ times in Paris. So don't tell me I wreck you."

Rick threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Worth a try," he joked, stroking her brunette tresses. "Feeling better?"

Kate sighed and managed a small smile. "A little," she replied. "I think a hot bath, Heat Wave and a glass of red will help me further, but it's another two hours til home time."

"Well I have a bit of news that might make you feel better," Rick informed her.

"Oh?"

"That was Tony on the phone just now; he's found us a house."

Kate lit up. "Really?" she exclaimed happily. "Finally after seven months, he's found a place?"

"Yup, he said he would email me some pictures of the place within the hour," Rick replied. "He said if we were interested to get back to him and he would take us on a tour."

"Tell me about it," Kate requested as she turned to resume the making of their coffees.

"It's It's a colonial style two and a half story double brick property with six bedrooms a downstairs study overlooking the backyard three bathrooms, a sauna two and a half car garage and an attic bedroom. The master bedroom has a balcony that overlooks the yard and the property is bordered by a sandstone fence. The interior paint job is a foul pale pink almost white color and new carpet needs to be laid. The kitchen is seventies style mission brown and burned orange but Tony said they were small issues and something we could overlook. I mean it wouldn't be too much problem getting contractors in to fix it all up."

Kate's smiled as she absorbed in all the information that her husband was causally delivering. "Sounds good," she replied "where is it?"

"Queens only fifteen minutes from here," Rick answered "I knwo we were looking in Westchester but Queens isn't that far away and geographically t's perfect for us."

"Well, it _does_ sound perfect," Kate conceded as she turned to the espresso machine and tamped down the coffee in the fine filter before securing it on the machine. "Make a time for us to see it and I'll take some personal time and go with you. It might be the one, you know every house we've looked at before now hasn't hit the spot with me _or_ you."

"And I'd like to be settled in a house in the 'burbs before any little ones come along," Rick murmured, wrapping his arms around Kate's waist and placing his hands on her stomach. "They can have their own room and we can go all arty on it, before Alexis came along I painted her nursery with little elephant and butterfly designs and then…."

Kate chuckled. "I think you're starting to get broodier than Dad," she replied in amusement as she began texturing the milk. "He told me yesterday when we had lunch, that he had started buying baby things for us ahead of when we _actually_ start re-producing."

"Of course I'm broody, I like babies. They smell of talcum powder and lanolin," Rick informed his wife. "_Before_ they crap in their diapers, that is. Ever since Alexis was born, I've wanted to give her siblings but Meredith didn't want any more and until I met you, I hadn't met anyone who I _wanted_ to have more kids with. Now that I am on the brink of fatherhood again I find myself getting as you so eloquently put it 'broody'"

"I think it's lovely," Kate said softly as she added hazelnut syrup to her partner's mug then added the coffee and textured milk. "So have you bought any baby stuff like Dad?"

"Nah, not yet...but I will admit to surfing baby goods websites, sort of online window shopping," Rick confessed as his cheeks reddening slightly. "Mainly for ideas on how to decorate nursery. It's been nearly twenty years since I've done it."

"Well together I think we'll be able to come up with something," Kate replied as she placed the steaming Hazelnut latte in her husband's large hands. "There you go."

"Thanks beautiful."

"My bedroom til I was about five had the paint job of the Partridge Family bus," Kate recalled with a small giggle. "Dad said Mom went all hippie with the paint job, using sample pots to paint pictures on the walls."

"Have you got any pictures of Alexis' old nursery?" Kate asked as she picked up her mug and made her way over to the lounge suite in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, I think I do somewhere," Rick replied after a moment of contemplative thought. "Her room didn't _quite_ have the décor of the Partridge family bus but it was still bright and colourful. Meredith and I didn't know whether or not we were having a girl so we went with mint green and elephant and kitten decals."

"I used to paint a lot when I was a little girl," Kate revealed reminiscently. "Every birthday I used to get a paint set or colouring set from my grandparents, Mom's Mom and Dad and then I'd spend the rest of Christmas Day drawing whatever took my fancy. I think Dad still has a few drawings in a chest up at his cabin."

Rick lit up. "Can we go up there and have a look at some?" he asked in interest. "It'd be nice to have some of those around the house."

"Really? But they're just childhood scrawls," Kate said.

"Doesn't matter, we can put an album together, maybe a scrapbook that includes albums from our childhoods," Rick went on. "Then eventually when we have kids of our own, we can add anything they make to it."

Kate felt her insides suddenly turn into a giant pool of mush as she looked deep into her husband's bright blue eyes. "That's a great idea;" she murmured swallowing hard as her chest swelled with emotion and her eyes with tears. "Oh god, now I'm crying again...this is _ridiculous!_"

Rick put his mug down on the nearest sturdy surface and reached forward, brushing the tear escaping from Kate's eye away with the pad of his thumb. "You are _so_ pregnant," he informed her in amusement. "I haven't seen mood swings like this from you since that time you slapped me over near the fridge."

Kate chuckled. "I just feel so weird, Rick," she said, flopping back against the back of the sofa with a heaving sigh. "I'm sad, happy, sad, happy a little bit pissy then annoyed, and then the cycle repeats itself."

"If it continues on, go to your doctor. They'll be able to help you feel better," Rick said. "And let me know if you're not feeling the best. I'll try and make you feel better, okay?

Kate just smiled.

* * *

"Okay we're meeting Tony at his offices tomorrow at half past one," Rick told Kate as he emerged from his office later that night after dinner. "Gates has given us three hours off in the aftern-what's up?" he added upon Kate sitting stiffly on the lounge, her gaze fixed on a small box on the coffee table.

"_I don't want to take the test._" Kate whispered as Rick sat down beside her at looked at the box which contained an at home pregnancy test.

The Writer snaked a muscular arm around his wife's waist and pulled her close. "How come?" he asked softly. "You want to be a Mom so much and this is the quickest way for you to find out if you're on the path to becoming one."

"I'm just scared," Kate confessed snuggling into his muscular bulk.

"Of?"

"Of...the result being negative, of it being positive. I want to be a Mom but I have no idea how to be one, so in part I don't want the result to be positive but I so badly want to be pregnant so I can have the same relationship with my child as My Mom had with me. God, I don't know _what_ I want to feel!"

"You don't have to take the test now," Rick told her, soothly. "But I also know that if you don't take it, you'll be restless for the rest of the night, or until you do take the test. The torture of not knowing will drive you more nuts than if you get a defined answer."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You know me so well," she said dryly, leaning forward to picking up the box. "I should, shouldn't I?"

"You won't know either way." Rick replied softly, dropping his hand to the small of her back and rubbing it affectionately. "I'll wait here while you do what you have to do."

"Okay, I'll do it!" Kate announced getting to her feet, determination flashing in her green-brown eyes. "I'm kidding myself; it'll kill me if I leave the box on the shelf."

"Hey, if it's negative, we can try again. You know that, don't you?" Rick informed her softly, grabbing her hand as she started off towards their bedroom. "I love you whatever happens."

Kate's eyes welled with tears and she smiled. "Love you too, Rick," she replied, softly giving his hand a squeeze. "Back in a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay."

Kate disappeared into the master bedroom then made her way into the spacious ensuite bathroom. She shut the door behind her and with nervousness pooling in her belly, put the pregnancy test box on the ledge of the vanity unit.

"_C'mon Kate__,__ you can do this,_" she murmured, staring at the box which loudly declared '98% accuracy!' "_It's only a pee test; you've faces scarier prospects than this before._"

Still blind terror filled her chest and sickening nervousness pooled low in her belly.

* * *

Out in the living room Rick sat alone on the sofa nervously waiting for Kate's return. He hadn't faced impending fatherhood for nearly twenty years and the creation of Alexis had been totally unplanned and unexpected though wholly worthwhile, this time planning for a family though anticipated still filled him with nervous, but excitable dread. More than anything he wanted to begin a family with Kate, but vowed not to get too excited til test results came back in the positive. He jiggled his foot and drummed his fingers on the arm of the sofa and was down to sixty seven in a Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall when Kate emerged from the master bedroom the pregnancy test clutched so tightly in her fist her knuckles had turned white.

"Yes or no?" he asked eagerly.

"Don't know yet, I have to wait three minutes," Kate replied dropping down next to him and putting the plastic stick on a drink coaster and covering it up with a sheet of note paper upon which that week's shopping list had been written. "The wait is going to kill me."

Rick slipped an arm around Kate's waist and pulled her close. "No it won't," he informed her confidently. "You've survived two bombs, an industrial freezer, being shot and almost falling off a five story building … this is _not_ going to kill you, I promise."

"I'm being stupid," Kate said sheepishly. "I really should put my big girl panties on."

"I'd rather those brief lacy thongs…." Rick joked. "You know, the one you wear with the corset s-_oof!_"

"Ha _ha_," Kate groaned, playfully slapping her writer on the thigh. "I am fully aware of your preference when it comes to my underwear. I should come to bed in a Nanna nightie and granny panties just to see your reaction."

"_Noooooooooo!_" Rick exclaimed theatrically, grabbing at his heart. "You wouldn't do that to me! That'd just be _cruel!_"

"You're safe, Writer Monkey. I don't actually own granny panties _or_ a nanna nightie," Kate responded with a giggle as Rick flopped back against the sofa. "I just like to wind you up."

"Boy, don't I know _that_," he replied with a soft smile and tucked a bang of her chestnut locks behind her ear. "You've been winding me up from the day we met."

"And had the best fun doing it," Kate murmured as she rested her head on his chest and listened to the comforting _thump thump thump_ of his heart. "God, what are we going to do if I am pregnant Rick? I have no idea how to be a parent. It's scary."

"I can help," he murmured in her ear. "If you are pregnant, we're going to head out buy all the latest whizz bang baby products then tell all our friends and family. We'll have the best baby shower and I'm going to take pictures of you every day, even when you complain about being fat and ugly and that there are no sexy looking maternity clothes and all that fits you is an army service tent."

Kate let out a snort of amusement. "Did that happen with Meredith?" she inquired.

"Yeah, all except the picture taking thing and the baby shower," Rick recalled. "She would have murdered me if came anywhere near her with a camera when she was pregnant and we never had a proper baby shower, her parents thought we were too young to start a family. With you, I want to do everything I didn't get to do the first time. I'm much more emotionally and financially equipped to be a parent this time, so I want to do _everything_ that's possible for us and any kids we have. That's why I'm feeling really good about inspecting this house tomorrow. I have a feeling in my bones this could be _the place_."

Kate looked at her watch and sighed loudly. "Another two minutes," she complained. "It's going to be the longest two minutes in my life, I _know_ it is."

"I can read you page 105 really slowly if you like," Rick offered with a chuckle. "or we can re-enact page 105. I like _that_ idea."

"Nah, not in the mood," Kate replied fixing her eyes on the shopping list that covered the pregnancy test. "For either. I'm not hungry, thirsty, horny, happy, sad or anything but _nervous_."

"I was singing a hundred bottles of beer on the wall while you were in the bathroom before," Rick revealed. "I got down to sixty seven; we could resume from there or start again at a hundred."

"Nope."

"How about a few cycles of Row Row Row Your Boat?"

"No."

"I know the Wombles theme song lyrics off by heart."

"No way."

"The Lamp Chop Song?"

"_Hell no!_" Kate exclaimed. "And if you teach that to our children, I'll divorce you."

"You drive a hard bargain, Tulip."

Quickly running out of things to talk about, the husband and wife sat silently on the sofa only the hum of the fridge and the low hiss of the espresso machine breaking the silence. Kate took to drumming her fingers against her wine glass and inhaling and exhaling noisily.

"Thirty seconds to go." Rick announced looking at his watch. "Not long."

"Longest thirty seconds of my life," Kate groaned. "This sucks."

"Not long," Rick murmured rubbing her thigh reassuringly.

"Long enough."

The last twenty seconds was excruciating for Kate and she had to use all her self control not to leap to her feet and yank the shopping list paper off the pregnancy test. She grinded her teeth, drummed her fingers and tapped her foot in a very Mary Poppins like way. But eventually her resolve broke and just as Rick said 'Time's-" she leapt forward breath withheld and reached for the test stick on the table...

* * *

A/N2: _DUM DUM DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! _It's been a while since I've dropped a cliffie hope you enjoyed it! And again if I have made errors in describing New York and Manhattan geography I apologise. I am not American and have never been to New York so can only go off Google Maps, Google Earth and what my American Facebook and Twitter friends have told me. I hope whatever mistakes there were didn't detract from the story experience. If you wish to correct me please send me a direct messge...Thanks!

Reviews feed the beast!


	5. 12 Writer Way

**A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 5th Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled '12 Writer Way' I wasn't entirely sure about he quality of this chapter but my beta assured me it's a good solid installment. I hope you enjoy the read!**

* * *

The following morning Kate and Rick rose early and began the usual routine for the start of their day in silence. Contrary to their usual routine they showered separately, dressed and ate breakfast in silence and didn't utter a word til they were in the Ferrari and on the way to the precinct.

"K-ate," Rick began hesitatingly.

"I don't want to talk about it Rick," the female detective replied as she pressed down the clutch and shifted gears.

"Bu-"

"I don't want to fuc-I just don't want to talk about it, _okay?_" Kate snapped, furrowing her brow and pursing her red lips.

"We nee-"

"Dammit Rick, I'll stop the car right in the middle of the road and make you walk to the precinct if you-"

"Alright, alright _alright!_" The Writer exclaimed. "I'll drop it, _for now_. But I am _not_ going to leave it permanently. We _have_ to talk. We're past this not talking to each other bullshit, remember?"

The female detective just gave a non committal grunt.

A short time after leaving the loft, Kate pulled into the precinct parking garage and drove the Ferrari into the nearest free space by the elevator. She broke hard then cut the engine and yanked the keys out of the ignition.

"I'll go get our coffees then, shall I?" Rick said mildly keen to avoid his wife's foul mood.

"_Mmmm._"

Kate dropped the keys into his hand then wordlessly grabbed her thin cardigan and handbag. She headed off towards the elevator. Shutting the door of the gleaming car much harder than she normally would. Rick sighed then secured the car and made his way across the street to Angelo's where he bought the usual fare. Already feeling crap from the night before, the depressed Special Agent left the bustling café and made his way back over to the twelfth precinct and up to the homicide department. Kate was already at her desk doing paperwork, a huge scowl upon her face.

Rick saw Ryan and Esposito catch his eye and give him the 'what's up bro?' look but he shook his head.

"Not now guys." He said shortly.

Knowing better than to press the issue, the two male detectives let it slide and returned to their desks. Rick walked to Kate's desk and put down her coffee by the elephant statue.

"Coffee for my girl," he murmured putting down the bear claw beside it.

"Thanks." Kate replied shortly, her tone slightly softer than in the car. "I've got to work, Castle. Can you get started on calling on the witnesses for the Proctor case and get the ones willing to come in-to come in sometime today or tomorrow? We need to find the missing link."

"Sure thing."

Rick took a sip of his coffee then got up and headed into the evidence room to collect the file box for the Proctor homicide. He then returned to his desk put his head down and lost himself in the ream of papers collected in the so far two week old case.

* * *

Shortly before lunchtime Kate took a break and disappeared inside the ladies bathroom. Ryan and Esposito got to their feet and walked over to Rick's desk with coffee mugs in hand.

"Break room _now_," Esposito commanded authoritatively.

With a sigh, the Writer grabbed his travel mug and followed his friends into the break room. Ryan immediately shut the door and drew the binds and Esposito rounded on his friend, his muscular arms crossed across his chest.

"Yo...what's the deal?" he asked. "What's happening with you and our girl out there? You literally haven't said a word to each other all morning."

"And she arrived at work in a foul mood," Ryan added. "Have you two had an argument?"

Rick sighed and leaned against the bench upon which the espresso machine rested. "No," he replied. "Definitely not."

"Then what's happening?" Esposito asked, his tone much softer.

"I thought Kate was pregnant," Rick revealed after a long silence. "But she's not. She took an at home test last night after work and it came back negative."

"Dude, sorry." Ryan murmured.

"Yeah, that sucks bro." Esposito added, dropping his arms to his sides.

"We're both really upset about it," Rick continued. "But Kate's taken it much harder. She cried for a solid hour after the test last night and woke up this morning in a foul mood. We've barely said a dozen words to each other since we got up this morning. I want to talk about it but she doesn't. I think she had her heart set on being a Mom more than she let on and it's devastated her that she hasn't fallen pregnant the first time we've really tried for a family."

"But she knows not all women get pregnant straight away, doesn't she?" Ryan asked. "Jenny and I have been trying for eighteen months and nothing's worked. We're even seriously considering IVF now."

"She knows but it doesn't help her feel any better," Rick replied. "She wants a relationship with her child like she had with Johanna and I think Kate's devastated that she can't do it as soon a she'd hoped."

"I don't know what to say bro, but stick in there," Esposito informed his friend. "Just stick by her til she feels ready to talk then just listen. You've done that before and it's worked."

"I know and that's what I plan to do," Rick replied, running his fingers through his hair with a sigh. "I just wish she would talk to me, you know? I thought we were past this 'keeping things from each other' shit."

"Maybe she doesn't know _what_ to say," Ryan said sagely. "Maybe she thinks if she says nothing, it'll stop her from breaking down totally."

"Most likely but it doesn't stop it from being so damn _frustrating_," Rick groaned, rubbing his face. "I don't really know what to say, either but at the very least I need to hold her and be upset with her, I can't even do that at the moment."

"Give it time, bro. She'll come around and you'll be able to talk it through," Esposito informed his friend softly. "Sounds like she needs to deal with the disappointment on her own before she can reach out for comfort."

"_Hmm._"

* * *

Just before 1PM Rick packed up his desk then headed into the break room to make himself and Kate their usual brew at the espresso machine. He was just adding vanilla syrup to the female detective's mug when she slipped into the room.

"Hey," she said softly, her voice croaking.

"Hey beautiful, how are you feeling?" the Writer inquired softly as he poured textured milk into the mug. "Any better?"

"Not really," Kate admitted, wrapping her slender arms around his waist and resting her head between his shoulder blades. "I'm hoping a coffee and the trip to inspect this house will make me feel better."

"Here you go," Rick murmured, fixing the lid to Kate's mug and turning around to give it to her. "Have a sip of that and we'll get going. D'you want to drive out to Tony's office or shall I?"

"You can, I'm tired," Kate replied after swallowing a mouthful of latte. "Mmm that's nice."

"Okay let's go," Rick announced a moment later as he secured the lid on his cup. "M'lady?"

The Writer held out an arm to the female detective but she wiggled her hand into his and intertwined her fingers with his, together they left the bullpen and made their way down to the parking garage where they got into the Ferrari and headed over to Queens - arriving shortly after half past one.

"I've always liked this part of New York it's alive, has it's own unique buzz," Kate announced as Rick brought the Ferrari to a stop in front of 'Backhouse and Co Realty'. "Dad and I almost moved here after Mom died but decided in the end he chose the apartment he's in now."

"I like it here too," Rick added. "I already own property here but nothing I'd want to make a life in, they're purely investment properties. I told Tony when I asked him to start looking for a place for us to look everywhere because it's the nearest family friendly area to the precinct and field office -anywhere else would make the travelling time into Manhattan ridiculous."

"You've really given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" Kat asked softly as they linked hands and entered the elegantly decorated office building.

"Of course, getting a place of our own is a big thing, Tulip and I want to find _the_ perfect place for us and that's why I told Tony all our criteria, it had to be close to our family and friends in Manhattan and had to be close to the precinct and the field office. I even told him I'd be happy with an ex crack house that we could blow up and rebuild on."

"You actually told him to look at crack houses?" the female detective asked with a snort of laughter. "God, imagine if the paparazzi found out about that-'Best selling crime writer Richard Castle buys a crack house'_ ha ha!_"

Rick opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the receptionist, a tall statuesque brunette returning to your desk.

"Can I help you, Sir?" she asked Rick.

"Yes, Rick and Kate Castle to see Tony Backhouse. Can you tell him we're here please?" the Writer replied. "He's expecting us."

"Of course, please take a seat."

Several moments later a tall muscular and tanned man about Rick's age emerged from the offices behind the reception desk with an armful of papers. He lit up when he saw Rick and strode forward extending a hand in greeting.

"Rick, how are you doing man?" he exclaimed shaking the Writer's hand enthusiastically. "Long time no see, great to see you again."

"It has been, I'm good, and this is my wife Kate..."

"Ah, the famous detective. Good to meet you, doll. I've heard a lot about you."

Kate blushed. "All good I hope," she muttered.

"Oh of course, only glowing things," Tony teased. "I've heard about you long before you and Ricky became a couple."

"D'you keep quiet about _anything?_" Kate groaned to Rick who was watching her with a look of total adoration on his face. "Seriously, I wonder about you sometimes."

"Ah, he's just proud of his girl Kate," Tony continued with a chuckle. "This folder is for you and Rick, the property is number twelve Writer Way in Qu-"

"'Scuse me?" Kate interjected with a huge snort of laughter. "Right away?"

"No, Writer Way. W-R-I-T-E-R way, writer as in someone who authors books," Tony explained. "I had a chuckle myself when the client came in."

"I have to look at this house on principle!" Rick exclaimed, looking over Kate's shoulders at the glossy pictures of the elegant property within the folder. "Its fate, the Gods want us to buy this property."

"How about we look at this property _before_ we buy it, huh?" Kate suggested to her enhused husband. "I will admit it looks good on paper."

"Alright, how about we head off and I'll meet you there?" Tony suggested to the couple. "I need to get there and open the gates to let you in. It's only ten minutes away."

"See you there!" Rick replied enthusiastically.

Tony left the reception area and Rick and Kate followed

"I have a feeling in my bones about this place, Tulip. I really do, the address is fate _destiny_ even." Rick enthused as they walked toward the Ferrari.

"Rick, destiny is how we met. Fate is us getting married," Kate informed her bubbly husband as he unlocked the Ferrari and slid into the driver's seat. "Neither destiny nor fate is buying a house."

"Aw Tulip, you are no_ fun!_" Rick decided as he started the engine. "C'mon, aren't you just a _little bit_ excited? This place could be where we live for the rest of our lives. And this place has a room for a pony!"

Kate laughed. "You want a pony?" she asked in amusement as she punched in their destination in the Ferrari's GPS system. "What for? You're too big for a pony."

"I didn't say I wanted a pony, I said there's room at this place for one," Rick elaborated. "Just think in five years time when we have our own brood of kids, we can hire a pony ride thing for their birthdays for all the kids to ride on. That would be _so_ cool!"

"You didn't ever have a pony ride birthday party growing up, did you?" Kate asked with a giggle.

"No, didn't have the room for one and when money was plentiful-Mother put it all into my education," Rick replied. "Not that I ever had a crappy birthday, I had the usual day at the pool, magicians etcetera but I'd like to give my kids everything I didn't have as a kid, y'know?"

"I understand," Kate said, her tummy erupting into butterflies as she witnessed him recall his childhood memories. "How about we actually have kids before we discuss any ride parties, huh? At the moment..."

Rick's face fell. "I know you're feeling rotten abut not being pregnant, Tulip. But we'll try again when you're ready," he promised his tone much more reserved. "We'll have babies soon, okay."

Kate smiled and squeezed his leg. "I know," she said softly. "Just be patient and let me come to terms with everything first, okay?"

"However long it takes."

* * *

No more than ten minutes later Rick pulled into 'Writer Way,' a long winding road lined with Oak trees and several large elaborate houses. A group of children raced up and down the sidewalks on scooters and skateboards and one boy whooped in delight as his dog, a muscular mix bred mutt - pulled him along on a pair of roller blades.

"I used to do that with Axel, Mom and Dad's German Shepherd when I was a kid," Kate commented as the dog let out a gleeful yap. "Though I wore roller skates, more than once I fell over and skinned my knees, even broke my left wrist once."

"Like the vibe of the area so far?" Rick inquired as he looked either side for number twelve.

"Yeah so far I do."

Sensing his wife slipping into a more cheerful mood, Rick continued down Writer Way to number twelve an elegant two storeyed red bricked colonial house with sweeping green lawns and dozens upon dozens of carefully pruned rose bushes and sculptured lines of jasmine hedges on either side of the driveway.

Tony's BMW was parked directly in front of the house's front door. He was leaning against the driver's side door, waiting for them. "So … what d'you think?" the agent asked as Rick and Kate got out of the Ferrari.

"Looks good so far," Kate replied as her head turned from left to right as if she was watching a tennis rally.

"There's room for a pony!" Rick added with a snort of laughter.

Tony raised an eyebrow in question.

"Don't worry about it," Kate informed the agent with a roll of her eyes. "He's in a mood."

"Shall we check out inside?" Tony suggested with a chuckle as Rick whipped out his iPhone and began taking photos of the exterior of the property. "Aside from the paint job and awful kitchen décor, I think you'll like this place."

"Show the way."

With Tony leading the way, Rick and Kate made their way up the elegant front porch steps to the decorative attained glass double front door. The agent poked a key into the lock and with a twist unlocked it and pushing the door open. They entered the spacious front foyer.

"_Very_ nice," Rick announced. "Recently renovated?"

"Semi recently, yes," Tony replied. "The floor used to be carpeted but in '07 the owners ripped it up and had maple floating floorboards put down. I've seen photos of what it used to look like and I'm tellin' you know it's a much better look. I believe the old owners were in the process of a total renovation but once the last of his children left home he's decided to sell up."

"D'you think much needs to be done to complete the renovations?" Kate asked as they turned left and entered the spacious and airy living room.

"No, not really," Tony replied casually. "A complete new paint job, a total kitchen gut and replacement and maybe carpeting of the second floor. It's almost all done."

"Is the vendor open to price negotiation?" Rick asked as he inspected the fireplace ha was the main feature of the room. ?

"He is, but only because he wants a quick sale," Tony replied. "I don't know what price he's willing to go to-but you know your real estate. I'll put whatever offer you come up with to him and see what he thinks. I think you'll be in luck though. He wants it listed at three five nine nine but I reckon you could go as low as three point four seeing as the property remains as an unfinished fix up job."

"Let me and Kate wander around and have a look and we'll talk," Rick informed his business partner. "How about we meet you back in the kitchen in an hour?"

"Sounds good."

Just over an hour later after touring every square inch of the property, pacing out each room and imagining how they would set it up as their own home-Rick and Kate finished standing in the centre of the backyard looking back at the house.

"So, what d'you think?" Kate asked her partner.

"I think it's perfect for us," Rick replied. "I really honestly do. There's a room right next to the master bedroom we could use as a nursery when kids come along, that room downstairs by the laundry that would be a _perfect _games room for me to have my poker and eight ball games. The one next door overlooking the back porch would be perfect for my office and the living room is big enough for me to get that LCD screen and entertainment unit that I've been drooling over since I saw it in Harrods when we were in London for our Honeymoon. And there's room for all our stuff from your old apartment and everything in storage."

Kate laughed. "You are such a geek," she teased. "Already put an order in for the next XBOX and PS4 consoles, have you?"

"Oh, I did that _weeks_ ago," her husband replied excitedly, his blue eyes alive with enthusiasm. "I know this place is bigger than you were thinking, Tulip. But it's _us_. I can feel it, I really can."

"Actually, I can too," Kate admitted. "I like the room downstairs by the room you want as your office. That could be my little space, like the downstairs spare room is in the loft."

"It could be, and just think if we get too annoyed with each other, this place is big enough for us to have space without actually being apart, and it's less than half an hour from the precinct and field office."

Kate laughed heartily. "You're really trying to convince me, aren't you?" she sniggered in amusement.

"Is it working?" came the question.

"You didn't have to, Rick. I like this place too," Kate informed her partner, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his muscular chest. "I really can see us building a family here. That's why I spent so much time in that little room off the master bedroom. I was imagining how I would set it up as a baby's nursery. I have an old redwood rocking chair that Mom used to sit in and feed me when I was an infant and I want to put it next to the window so I can sit in it holding my own baby."

Immediately a huge lump of emotion formed in the back of Rick's throat and he swallowed hard wincing a little as his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Let's make it the first room we set up once we get the keys," he murmured thickly. "Even before our room, let's set it up, paint it, arrange all the furniture..."

"Rick, we don't have to do that," Kate replied with a sigh. "Let's wait til I am actually pregnant, huh? It's just messing with the universe if we get everything before I'm actually pregnant."

"Since when have you been superstitious?" Rick teased. "Out of all the people I've met in my life, you're the biggest skeptic, even Alexis who is the most sensible person in the universe reads-her stars in the morning paper."

"I'm not superstitious, not really," Kate defended. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to walk under ladders or anything like that."

Rick chuckled. "Your sensibility is one of the things I love about you Mrs Castle," he announced, pulling back and lacing his thick fingers through hers. "How about we go and tell Tony we're in?"

"Lead the way."

* * *

**A/N2: Reviews feed the beast peoples!**


	6. Footloose

A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 13th Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'Footloose' I'm not sure about this chapter, so I shall turn it over to you for perusal. I hope you like it!

* * *

Halfway through July on one of their rare joint days off from the precinct and the field office, Kate and Rick were resting in deckchairs on the rooftop of the loft taking in the late summer sunshine by the hot tub when Rick's iPhone started trilling with a techno version of the Chicken Dance.

"_Ugh_ Rick, Techno hasn't been popular since the nineties. Why d'you persist with crap like that for a ringtone?" Kate groaned as she lifted up her large sunglasses and peered at him with an enquiring eye. "And the _chicken dance?_ You're stuck in the eighties I swear."

"It's cheerful!" Rick exclaimed defensively as he rolled over to grab his phone. "And since marrying you, sweetheart, I've been extraordinarily cheerful."

"You're a suck hole, Richard Castle. Answer your phone before they hang up on you."

Chuckling Rick swiped his thumb across the screen and put the trilling device to his ear. "You've reached Richard Castle, lucky you!" he announced.

"Ha _ha_," Tony-the real estate agent–responded. "Tony here pal, how are you doing? I haven't caught you at a bad time, have I?"

"Nope, Kate and I have a day off," Rick replied, jumping slightly as Kate rolled over and cuddled up to him. "So just taking it easy catching a few rays on the roof. What can I do for you?"

"I ring bearing good news," Tony replied. "I've just heard back from the vendor for that house in Queens that I took you and Kate to a couple of weeks ago and he's accepted your offer. You and Kate only have to sign the papers and you'll officially be the owners."

"_Really?_"

"Yup, I literally just got off the phone to him. I've got a quiet afternoon so I can bring the papers over now and give you the keys. You could be moved and settled in this place by the end of the week."

"That's great, come over whenever you want. We'll be here."

"You got it pal, see you soon."

"See you Tony."

"Good news?" Kate enquired sleepily.

"Uhmmmm, we got the house," Rick replied. "The owner accepted our offer. That was Tony just now. He's on his way over with the papers for us to sign. He thinks we could be moved in by the end of the week."

"We haven't got enough furniture," Kate pointed out. "The house is huge; we're going to have to go shopping. If we totally stripped the loft we'd still only fill a third of the house."

"I know, but I want to fix up a few things before we move in," Rick replied. "So it'll probably be the end of the summer before we shift."

Kate smiled. "Your eyes light up when you're excited," she commented, lifting up a hand and stroking his cheek with the pad of her thumb. "And you've been excited a lot lately."

Rick leaned into his wife's touch and smiled. "I've had a lot to be excited about," he informed her softly. "We're putting away the cases at the precinct and I found the missing link to a big case I'm working at the field office during the week _and_ we just officially bought a house. Life is going ahead like I want it to and it makes me happy."

"Now all we have to do is make a baby," Kate murmured her face falling.

"Oh Kate, that'll happen. Trust me, sweetheart. It will," Rick crooned running his fingers through her tousled locks.

"But when? My libido is nonexistent, all I want to do after getting home from the precinct is eat then go to bed, my motivation to do anything but my job is evaporating at an alarming rate and last time I checked, to make a baby you-have to have sex."

Rick's lips twitched but he hid his amusement at Kate's words to spare her feelings. "Give it a little while longer, than if you still feel down-go and see your doctor," he said. "I'm patient, Kate. I can wait for as long as it takes for you to be ready to try again."

"The way I'm feeling I'll likely go through menopause before that happens." He female detective shot back dryly.

"I think our luck will be a little better than that," Rick informed his upset wife. "I have strong swimmers, you know."

Kate's solemn expression broke and she smiled. "You're so modest." She teased.

"Nope, honest," Rick replied. "I've been tested."

Kate's eyebrows disappeared into her fringe. "Really?" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, a few years ago I undertook a full medical when I took out a life insurance policy for Alexis," Rick replied. "It was such a thorough process that I actually checked into hospital for two days."

"When was this? And what insurance company makes you undertake such an intensive medical evaluation?"

"It didn't need to be so intensive but I did it for my own peace of mind," Rick replied. "Besides, I didn't want Alexis to be left out if something did happen to me so I took every test one can take. Everything from a cardio thoracic evaluation to a sperm count and that was when I found out I'm ridiculously fertile. I suppose it was about six months before I started shadowing you at the precinct."

"So not being pregnant is my fault then..."

At his wife's words Rick sat bolt upright. "_No!_" he exclaimed. "A _million_ times no! Kate, not getting pregnant is not your fault, or my fault or anyone's fault. A lot of women don't get pregnant the first time they really, try. You know the Ryan's have been trying for eighteen months? Kevin told me they've had all the tests done and medically there's no reason they shouldn't be pregnant. Maybe that's us too, maybe there's an inexplicable reason why we haven't conceived yet, but I think we should wait a few months before we lose hope. I'm still hopeful you'll be pregnant by Christmas."

Kate just sighed.

* * *

Half an hour later just as Kate and Rick came in from sunning themselves on the roof of the loft; a knock came at the door. Kate padded across the freshly polished floor boards and peered through the peep hole. Seeing Tony standing on the other side, she undid the chain and deadlock and swung the door open and stood aside to let the real estate agent in.

"Hey Tony, come in!" she informed the older man brightly. "Rick won't be long, he's just in the bathroom. Would you like a coffee?"

"I would, a cappuccino would be great," Tony replied stepping into the loft. "Been keeping busy?"

"Very," Kate replied. "This is the first day Rick and I have had off in nearly two weeks. We've been flooded with so much work that we've started to spend more time at work then here, but hopefully that'll lessen. We've got two days straight off and we're going to need it."

"Well maybe you can take some accrued time off to move into this place," Tony suggested as he waved a set of keys in the air. "All that I need for the sale to be official is to get you and Rick to sign half a dozen papers each, you could be in your new home in a week."

"I doubt that, Rick wants to unleash his inner interior decorator and finish the renovations the previous owners started," Kate supplied as she went to the espresso machine and began preparing some coffee. "He's already got a quote to fix the kitchen up and we've been to flooring stores every weekend since you took us through for the initial inspection."

Tony chuckled. "Yes, I'm well aware of Rick's inner interior decorator," he replied. "Every property I've sold him, he's gutted and fixed up. I think if he wasn't a writer, he'd have his own decorating show on Lifestyle."

Kate let out an unladylike snort of laughter. "I can-" she began.

"Hey, I heard that!" Rick exclaimed as he emerged from his office. "Not cool, Backhouse. Not cool."

The agent chuckled heartily. "Howdy," he greeted, sticking his hand out. "You're Martha Stewart, I believe."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Ha _ha_ very _funny_," he groaned shaking Tony's hand. "I have heard that joke before, smartass."

"Well shall we get down to business?" Tony suggested. "There's quite a bit of paperwork to go through."

"Let's do it," Rick responded enthusiastically, leading the agent to the dining table. "Where do we start?"

* * *

"Well Mr and Mrs Castle, I present to you the keys to your Castle," Tony said with a snort of amusement, an hour later as he handed Kate and Rick a quartet of keys each. "Enjoy, it was a pleasure doing business with you both."

"Likewise," Rick replied, getting to his feet and shaking his friend's hand enthusiastically. "I doubt this is the last time we'll do business. Remember...if you see a place you think I'll like, drop me a line."

"You got it, nice meeting you Kate, I have no doubt I'll be seeing you again."

"Most likely," Kate answered with a smile. "Thanks for dropping by."

As soon as Tony left, Kate turned around and leapt into Rick's arms. The Special Agent grasped his wife hurriedly and let out a grunt of surprise as he stumbled back in an attempt to regain his balance.

"What's gotten you so excited?" he questioned as Kate wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged him fiercely.

"We've got a house!" she announced, her hazel greens shining with excitement. "I want to move in by the end of August."

"I don't know if the renovations we have planned will be finished by then..." Rick cautioned.

"I don't care," Kate replied. "Let's start furniture shopping this weekend and start filling up the rooms that aren't being fixed up. Then over the next couple of weeks we can pack up the things we're taking from the loft and get it ready to start moving by say-the fifteenth."

"I married a diary," Rick joked. "What are we doing next Thursday, Mrs Castle?"

"_You_ have a marketing meeting at Black Pawn for Deadly Heat and I'm having lunch with Dad," Kate replied with a grin. "I've been so busy at the precinct recently I've not had the time."

"Yup, you're a diary," Rick repeated as he gently put Kate down. "I'm all for being in the new house by the end of August but at least for the foreseeable future we're going to have to do all the work on the weekend. After tomorrow I've got to be at the field office every day for the next couple of weeks."

"You deal with the contractors and I'll start looking online at furniture," Kate instructed her bemused husband. "Just keep in mind I want marble bench tops. Anything else I'm good with."

Rick saluted then bowed deeply. "Of course Your Majesty," he responded pursing his lips in an attempt to stave off a smile. "Would you like gold plated cutlery and china made from the finest of porcelain?"

"Behave yourself, Writer Boy!"

* * *

Mid afternoon while Kate was in the roof top garden catching some more rays, Rick retreated to his office to write when struck by a plot idea for the next Nikki Heat book. He was in the middle of an intense scene where Nikki and Rook were involved in a shoot out with a suspect when his iPhone began shrilling with Beethoven's 1812 Overture-the ringtone he'd assigned to Paula. Smiling he leaned back, cracked his neck vertebrae and answered the shrilling device.

"Good afternoon, you've reached the Awesomesauce Hotline. Press one for Richard Castle..." he piped.

"Oh ha _ha,_" Paula groaned. "What department do I get transferred to if I press hash?"

"Oh you'd automatically get transferred to me," Rick replied with a chuckle. "How are you darling?"

"I'm good!" Paula replied in a sing song voice. "I ring for business."

"Go on."

"After weeks of rumours, I finally have a firm offer from the producers of Dancing with the Stars on the table for you appear on this year's season," Paula revealed. "Are you inter-"

"Yes, yes, a hundred times yes!" Rick responded enthusiastically. "I promised Kate and Alexis I would say yes if I ever got a firm offer to do it. Have I been assigned a partner?"

"You have and because you're based in New York they've picked a Manhattan based dancer," Paula replied. "Her name's Anastasia Smirnova, she's a Latin World Champion. I'll email you a list of links to her dancing. She's great Rick seriously, you'll have fun with this girl."

"So what happens now?" Rick asked. "Do I get my sequins and spandex on and salsa my way to the mirror ball trophy?"

Paula let out a snort of laughter. "Hold your horses, Liberace," she teased. "I'm gonna pass your cell number onto the producers of Dancing and to Anastasia and between the three of you, organise when to start training and when to do all the media stuff. Keep quiet about it in the meantime. ABC hasn't released the final line up yet."

"Can I tell Kate, Alexis, Ryan and Esposito?"

"Okay, tell them but no one else. I'll get skinned alive if anyone finds out I said that, okay? I trust you not to spread it about town."

"You got it darling, but I'm going to have to tell people eventually. I have work at the field office and precin-"

"I know and ABC are aware of that and said in due course they would organise you to take some time off," Paula assured him. "You in spandex and sequins would be tremendous PR for the FBI and NYPD 'Special Agent Liberace' _ha ha ha!_"

"Oh, that was _ONE_ Halloween twenty years ago!" Rick groaned. "I am never going to live that down, am I?"

"No, because it was hysterical and worth the perpetual memory," Paula replied with a great snort of laughter. "I think I have a photo of it some-"

"Oh don't you _dare_ leak it to the media," Rick groaned. "I'll give you the entire profits of Deadly Heat for the next twelve months if you burn all the copies you have."

Paula roared with laughter. "Don't worry sweetie, your secret's safe with me," she chortled. "I'll save it for your next milestone birthday. Your fiftieth is eight years away."

"Was there anything else?" Rick asked pointedly. "Or is it quiet in the office and need something to amuse yourself with?"

"Nah, that's it sweets. Expect a call from ABC and Anastasia in the next couple of days," Paula replied in amusement. "I'll be in touch."

"Talk to you soon darling."

Rick hung up then sprang to his feet and made his way up to the rooftop garden where Kate was snoozing on a deckchair listening to her iPod.

'_cut loose, footloose. Kick off the Sunday shoes. Please, Louise, pull me off of my knees. Jack, get Mack, come on before we crack, lose your blues, everybody cut footloose...'_

Kate sensed his presence and opened her eyes slowly. "_Hey,_" she murmured sleepily as she turned off the iPod and stretched luxuriously. "How's the writing going?"

Rick allowed his gaze to travel from his wife's toes and up her lithe frame to her hazel brown eyes, lingering slightly on her hips before he answered. "Good, I got down what I had in my head," he replied with a smile. "I also got a call from Paula."

"Oh?"

"The producers of Dancing with the Stars have officially invited me to be a contestant on this year's show," Rick revealed. "And I said yes, a hundred times yes."

Kate lit up. "_Really?_" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I've just got to wait for the dancer that I've been paired with and someone from ABC to ring me," Rick replied happily. "Paula said I can tell you, Alexis, Ryan and Esposito but that's it."

"So that's it?" Kate questioned. "No idea when you'll start training or when you'll start doing the promotion for it?"

"No, not yet," Rick replied, holding out a hand and helped his wife to her feet. "I expect the people from ABC will talk that over with me."

Kate let out a sudden snort of laughter. "D'you realise how much hell Kevin and Javi and by extension Lanie are going to give you once you tell them you're a contestant?" she said. "And when the line up of contestants is revealed, you're going to have the entire twelfth precinct and field office giving it to you too."

"Yeah, I know," Rick groaned, sweeping the female detective into his arms and starting to dance with her. "But I've put up with far worse after what happened in the warehouse, nothing could possibly be worse. Besides, I have material on Kevin ad Javi and I'm not afraid to use it."

Kate chuckled in amusement. "Are we really dancing on the roof of our apartment?" she questioned allowing Rick to swing her in a circle. "Seriously?"

"It's a good a place as any," the Writer responded, nuzzling her windswept hair and deeply inhaling the alluring scent of her perfume and sunscreen. "Besides, I have to get some practice in. I think a mirror ball trophy would look great in our new house, don't you?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "You _are_ a goofball" she informed her husband dryly. "With show pony tendencies."

"Aw but you love me," Rick teased, his bright blue eyes sparkling with mischief as he dipped her. "I kinda like this dancing thing, _hey! _Maybe you'll get on the next series."

"Me? Oh _PFFFFFT,_" Kate scoffed. "Only famous people go on that show Rick and I'm not famous. The only reason anyone knows who I am is because I'm your muse and wife. If it wasn't for that, no one would know or care who I am. Me and Dancing with the Stars ain't happening."

"Nothing is impossible, Tulip. I think we've proved that," Rick informed his partner, drawing her close and bestowing upon her the fiercest of hugs. "Nothing is impossible."

* * *

Later that night while waiting for Rick to emerge from the shower, Kate was lying sprawled on the sofa reading that day's New York Post when her iPhone began ringing. Digging the device out of her pocket she looked at the caller ID, raising her eyebrows in surprise when Alexis' ID flashed upon the screen. She swiped her thumb across the screen and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello Alexis?" she greeted the young woman. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

Alexis laughed. "Why do you and Dad automatically assume something's wrong when I ring?" she asked in amusement. "Don't you think if something was wrong, Noah, the college or the Boston PD would be the one's ringing?"

"Well...you have a point," Kate conceded. "So, how are your holidays going? Your Dad and I haven't seen you for a few weeks."

"I know and I plan on coming home for a weekend soon," Alexis replied guiltily. "But I was kinda hoping for a bit of advice before I do."

The uncertainty in Alexis' voice surprised Kate and her interest piqued.

"What's up?' she questioned. "You sound upset."

"I'm not," Alexis said at once. "Just a bit conflicted, I have all these feelings and I don't really know what to do-so I decided to ring you. I hope you don't mind, this _thing_ isn't really something I want to talk to Mom, Dad or Grams about."

"_Spill,_" Kate commanded. "C'mon, you'll feel better afterwards."

Alexis took a deep breath and sighed loudly. "Well I've just spent a week in Washington with Noah before coming back to Boston and the last morning I was there, he asked me something..."

"He _proposed?_" Kate yelped.

"_No!_" Alexis exclaimed. "No no no nothing like that, he asked me to move in with him. I mean not to switch Colleges to something in DC but instead of going home to New York in the holidays and weekends to come to DC instead.

"Oh, that's great!" Kate informed the youngest Castle. "_Isn't it?_"

"Yeah it is, sort of, oh God I don't know what to feel Kate, I love Noah. I mean we've been together almost a year, but this is a big thing. You didn't rush your decision to move in with Dad and I want to be the same with Noah. I don't see you or Dad or Grams or Kelsey much anymore because I'm up in Boston and if I shift to Washington, I'll barely see you at all. I don't know anyone in Washington except Noah and his colleagues and well..._arrrrrrgh!_"

"Whoa whoa whoa, take a deep breath or you'll hyperventilate," Kate cautioned. "Start from the beginning, _when_ did Noah ask you to move in with him?"

"Sunday morning," Alexis replied. "We'd been out Saturday night and got in late and after...well you don't need to know what he asked me to move in with him. He said 'Lex, I love you and I know you're in college at Harvard but when you've got time off holidays or long weekends-I'd like you to come to DC. I'd like you to move in with me."

"And you didn't say yes straight away," Kate guessed.

"No, I didn't," Alexis replied. "I told him I loved him too but I wanted to think about this proposition. I've been stewing about it for a few days and Paige finally told me to ring you 'Kate's sensible, she'll be your agony aunt'."

"'Lexis, this isn't a decision I can make for you," Kate informed the redhead sagely. "You're the most sensible person I know and I know with the right amount of consideration you will come to the right conclusion for yourself. If you love Noah, like _really_ love him and it sucks to be apart from him, then follow your heart and go to DC. But if there's _any_ reason that gives you doubt, don't do it."

"But if I do move, I'll hardly see you or Dad or-" Alexis began.

"Alexis, you'll see us plenty," Kate stated. "You know you can come home whenever you need or want. You can't let what's back in New York hold you back, you're young. Spread your wings and fly. If it doesn't work out then you can come home..."

"But Dad-and Grams..."

"Wouldn't want you to hold back," Kate finished. "Especially your Dad. He may have trouble coming to terms with the fact you're a grown woman now, but he wouldn't want you to hold yourself back just because you're afraid of his reaction. Besides, wherever you are we can come and visit. If you move to DC, we'll come and visit you. If you stay in Boston, we'll come and visit you. I'm not telling you to do anything but listen to your heart. That method worked for me. It'll work for you. Trust me."

"Really?"

"Really, when did you say you would give Noah an answer?" Kate asked.

"I said I would think about it for a week," Alexis replied, "I have an interview with the Chief Medical Examiner's office on Friday and if I get that job, I'll have to stay in Massachusetts because when I'm not in school, I'll be working there."

"You have an interview?" Kate asked in interest. "What's the job you're going for?"

"Lab hand at the Holyoake office," Alexis replied. "It's only a part time position, but it'd pay well and I'd get college credits. And if I decide to go to medical school this will give me recognition of prior learning credits."

"That's great have you told Lanie yet?" Kate asked. "She'd _love_ to know."

"Not yet, I only got an interview time today," Alexis replied. "If I can get through to her before the interview, I'll tell her all about it. Doctor Perlmutter too. They're my main referees."

"Well I hope you get it, you'll make your Dad so proud if you do," Kate informed the teen. "Every time you do anything exciting, he tells everyone at the precinct and field office. You're his crowning glory 'lexis he wants you to go as far as you possibly can and _this_, moving in with Noah would be part of that. I know your, Dad. He would want you to follow your heart. You'll never know if it's going to be the right thing for you unless you do it."

"Yeah I know, I'm just being stupid, worrying too much."

"It's natural to worry, Alexis. I did before I dove in with your Dad, and it's better than I ever imagined it could be," Kate replied solemnly. "As I said before...follow your heart. Take a chance."

"Speaking of Dad, is he around?" Alexis asked.

"He's in the shower," Kate replied. "D'you want me to get him to ring you back?"

"No, I'll ring him tomorrow. I'm beat, I've been out horse riding with Paige all day," Alexis replied. "Thanks for the advice, Kate. You're a great listener."

"Anytime Alexis, chat soon okay?"

"You got it, bye."

* * *

A/N2: I absolutely love writing Kate/Alexis scenes...Reviews feed the beast!


	7. Breakthrough

A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 14th Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'Breakthrough' I hope you all enjoy this chapter which comes much sooner than I thought it would (Inspiration belted me over the head with a baseball bat ha ha) I would like to make it known I admire every serving officer whatever their rank of the NYPD and do not in anyway thing those who work in the seventeenth precinct are any less capable at their jobs than officers in other precincts. Any police officer in any force the world over should be admired and respected for their sacrifice.

On with the show!

* * *

Rick was on a 'only come in if we call you' schedule from the field office for the next week so his full attentions went into helping Kate, Ryan and Esposito at the precinct. A new week started and he got right into the thick of things. Picking up the box containing the 'Body in the Sports Bag' case he and Kate had caught on their first day back after their honeymoon, he sat down at his desk and pulled out a handful of papers. He was trawling through missing person's report trying in vain to identify the victim when he came across one file of a 'Caroline Bannister' a petite strawberry blonde girl of only nineteen years old.

"I think I've found our vic!" he announced, turning to his computer and bringing up the fingerprint data base.

Immediately Kate, Ryan and Esposito abandoned their own work and swarmed around the Special Agent as he typed furiously away on his keyboard, feeding in the information in the missing person's report.

"Caroline Bannister?" Esposito piped up as he peered down at the young woman's missing person report. "Who reported her missing?"

"Her fiancé and mother," Rick rattled off as he hit the enter key and set the scan of the fingerprint database going. "According to this-she was due to met them at their home before going out for dinner. They reported her disappearance to the seventeenth precinct."

"Why the hell did it take two months to hit the missing person's database?" Ryan wondered as he took note of the 'date of report' at the top of the page.

"Probably some little punk didn't pay attention in the 'how to file reports properly' class at the academy," Esposito said in disgust. "There's not a whole brain cell in the entire seventeenth precinct. All the idiots from the academy go there."

Kate let out a snort of laughter.

"When this finishes, I'll ring the officer who took this report and blast them," Rick informed his friend as he kept his eyes focused on the screen in front of him. "We could've found out the vic's ID weeks ago if the report had gone into the system sooner."

A second later the fingerprint scan stopped and flashed _'MATCH FOUND'_ in bright red lettering. Rick pumped his fist and swung around in his seat to face Kate, Ryan and Esposito.

"_Bam_ said the lady," he informed them with a grin. "_Now_ we can go somewhere on this case."

"If Gates wasn't here, I'd kiss you!" Kate exclaimed grabbing one of his pens and jotting down the 'next of kin' details. "Wish you could be on the books full time."

"Nah, you'd get pissed with him if he were here all the time, Mrs Castle," Ryan informed his colleague. "You go home and he's there, if you came here and he was here all the time, you'd go nuts, _we'd_ go nuts."

"_Shut up_." The two partners chorused.

"Try as you might, boys. You can't fool me. I know you like our dynamic," Kate teased, playfully ruffling Ryan's hair. "Can you bring up Caroline Bannister's financials and phone records? Castle and I will head out to notify her next of kin."

"As you wish, master," Esposito replied with a grin.

"You call it in with Gates," Kate instructed her partner as she scribbled away on a notepad. "I just need to make a few notes before we can go."

Rick flashed the female detective a wink before turning and striding over to Gate's office and knocking on the frame of the open door.

"Mr Castle?" she questioned.

"Sir, we've just gotten an ID on the vic from the body in the sports bag case and Kate and I are off to notify the next of kin," Rick informed the older woman. "Ryan and Esposito are pulling financial and phone records while we head out."

"Good, keep me up to date won't you?" Gates requested.

"Yes Sir."

Rick turned and headed straight back to his desk where Kate was putting together a folder of information. "Ready to go?" he asked, pulling his jacket off his chair and shucking it over his broad, muscular shoulders.

"Yep, let's go," the female detective replied, pulling on her pea coat and picking up the folder. "_Ugh_."

"You alright?" Rick asked in concern as they headed toward the elevator.

"Yeah, I'm just still feeling nauseous," Kate admitted. "I've tried some over the counter medicine from the pharmacy around the corner from the loft and those ginger pills Lanie gave me but they're not working anymore."

"Have you made an appointment to see your doctor?" Rick asked in alarm.

"No...because it's only a faint feeling of blahness," Kate replied, leaning forward and pressing the call button. "And what can my doctor do for general blahness? She'll probably tell me to go home, drink lots of fluids and rest. All of which I do when I'm not in the bullpen."

"Well promise me if you get any worse you'll make an appointment, you've pushed yourself when ill before and you almost ended up in hospital because you were so dehydrated."

"I promise," Kate vowed as she scanned the contents of the folder in her hands. "I hate doing notifications. Especially when they're young and just starting out in life, it reminds me of me when Raglan came to me and Dad and told us about Mom. I was the same age as Caroline, y'know?"

"D'you want me to do it?" Rick asked as the doors to the elevator scraped open.

"Hmm maybe," Kate mused. "Let's see how I feel once we get to the next of kin's place. All I want to do right now is kneel on a bathroom floor and pray to the porcelain god."

"I want you to go home and rest, but I know if I press the issue you'll go in the opposite direction," Rick commented as the elevator began descending to the basement parking garage. "But if you _are_ going to be ill, at least let me hold your hair back and pat your shoulder, alright?"

The faint ghost of a smile appeared on Kate's lips and she affectionately elbowed her husband. "Thanks," she replied. "That's romantic in a warped kind of way."

"Well, you know me, Tulip. I've always been romantically warped," Rick commented with a chuckle. "C'mon, let's get this notification over and done with and I'll take you out for coffee on the way back to the precinct."

Kate paled. "I don't think it's such a great idea that I eat anything," she informed her partner. "I don't want to risk being sick in the Crown Vic."

"Let me get some barf bags out of the suburban," Rick suggested as they arrived in the parking garage. "My car is here while I'm on call with the field office and there's some in the first aid kit in the trunk."

"If you insist," Kate relented. "I'm not going to convince you I'm not _that_ ill, am I?"

"Nope," Rick replied at once as he strode over to the gleaming black Suburban near Kate's Crown Vic. "And if you do actually barf I'm going to ring Gates and tell her then take you home. We're trying to make a baby, Kate and there's no point in rushing about and tiring yourself unnecessarily. You'll stress more and it'll be even harder to conceive."

"I could be ovulating ten times a minute and it wouldn't matter because we're not actually having sex," Kate pointed out as she watched her partner unlock his car. "My libido evaporated once we came home from Paris, remember? Actually I think the last time we did it was on the plane ride home."

"I think your libido evaporated because you're stressing about not being pregnant already," Rick announced as he rummaged around in the first aid kit. "And I learned stress can prevent a woman conceiving in grade eight sex ed. I think the key is to stop worrying about making the baby and _bam_ sooner or later there will be a bun in the oven."

Kate couldn't help it and snorted in amusement. "You are perpetually optimistic Richard Castle," she proclaimed as he straightened up clutching a pair of barf bags in his hands his baby blue eyes shining brightly. "It's irritating you know."

Rick chuckled as he slammed the trunk shut. "Yeah it is, but you married me so I can't be _that_ irritating," he replied swiftly locking his vehicle and pocketing his keys. "You have to admit that."

"If I admit anything, you'll prance around like a dressage horse for the rest of the day," Kate grumbled, the tiniest of smiles tugging at the corners of her mouth. "C'mon special agent saucy, let's get this notification over and done with."

A short time later the two partners arrived in the middle class suburb of Morningside Heights at an old apartment block in West 113th street parallel to St John the Devine Cathedral something Kate took quite an interest in.

"I was Christened in that church," she informed her partner a she cut the engine.

"Really? Your family's Catholic?" Rick asked in surprise. "I didn't think your folks were that religious."

"They're not, though they did and Dad still does go to Midnight Mass every year," Kate replied. "It was my Grandmother, Mom's Mom who insisted I be Christened. She was _very_ Catholic."

"D'you believe?" Rick inquired in interest.

"Yes, but I don't go to Church," Kate replied as they got out of the Crown Vic. "If I have any children I'd prefer them just having a naming ceremony with friends and family or be blessed by the NYPD Chaplain. Karpowski and her husband got their twin girls christened by him."

"I'll keep that-" Rick started.

"Aye lady, you can't park there!" a voice called from behind them. "It's for emergency services vehicles only!'

Kate turned around to see a middle aged woman dressed in the distinctive khaki and black uniform of the city's parking inspectors. "Actually, yeah I can," Kate replied in annoyance as she flashed her badge. "Detective Kate Castle NYPD."

"Rick Rodgers Special Agent FBI," Rick added showing the over zealous woman his badge and ID.

"We've actually on official NYPD business, so if you could let us-" Kate continued.

"Just wait a cotton pickin' minute!" the woman interrupted. "That's not a cop car, where are the sirens and lights?"

Kate rolled her eyes in an overly theatrical manner and with a loud huff strode back over to the Crown Vic and opened the driver's side door. She then reached into the middle of the car and flicked a switch on the centre console. Immediately lights on the dashboard and back windscreen lit up and an ear piercing wail began sounding. She let the lights and siren go on for nearly a minute til the parking inspector clapped her hands over her ears and shouted for the female detective to stop.

"_ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!_" she yelled.

Kate turned off the siren and light and locked the car before straightening up and fixing the annoyed parking inspector with a hard stare. "Can we go now?" she asked peevishly. "Not all cop cars have the NYPD livery on them. I work at the twelfth precinct homicide department. My boss is Captain Victoria Gates who will be_ more _than happy to confirm my and my partner's identity and credentials when you ring her on _this_ number."

Kate yanked her business card from within her pocket and dropped it on the woman's clipboard. "And if you're lucky she won't bust you for impeding a homicide investigation," she continued. "Now..._as I was saying_, my partner and I are actually here on official NYPD business, we're about to inform a mother that her daughter was murdered-so why don't you toddle off and continue being a wannabe cop, start by ticketing that Jeep Cherokee over there. It's parked in a loading zone."

And with a hair swish that belonged in an L'Oreal commercial, Kate turned around and strode off towards the entrance to number 407. Rick stood stunned for a minute at Kate's sudden foul mood and torn between lauding his wife for telling the parking inspector off and asking her if she was alright, he turned and quickly caught up with her.

"Alright, what was _that _all about?" he inquired.

"I just hate parking inspectors, they're all wannabe cops," Kate supplied as they strode through the lobby heading toward the elevator at the back. "And I haven't got the patience to deal with any half wits today. I just want to find the son of a bitch who killed Caroline and put him away. And people like that woman just grate on me. If we go out there after this notification and find a clamp on the wheel or a ticket under the wipers-I'm going to track down that woman and shove them up her-"

"Ah, how about we do the notification first?" Rick suggested, cutting his partner off mid-rant. "Then we can decide what to shove up where."

"You can do the notification, you've done the majority of the legwork on this case," Kate informed him, suddenly shoving the folder she was carrying into her partner's chest.

"You sure?" Rick asked as he pressed the button to call the elevator. "I mean, I know I'm an SA and all but when I go out on the field with you, I'm just a paid consultant of the NYPD."

"There's no regulation saying that only a sworn officer can do notifications," Kate replied mildly as the elevator arrived with a metallic crunch. "And if there is-I'm prepared to catch any hell, alright? I just don't feel like doing much of anything today."

"Okay then."

The two partners travelled their way up to the sixth floor and wandered up the long hallway til they came to apartment sixty-three, Rick cast his eyes at his partner, flashing her one of his trademark winning smiles before lifting a fist and knocking firmly on the door.

Moments later footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door and there was a click of a lock before it opened a crack, a chain separating the middle aged woman who answered on the inside and the two officers of the law on the outside.

"Can I help you?" she inquired curiously.

"Excuse me ma'am, would you be Diana Pilkington?" Rick asked.

"_Yessss_," the woman replied uncertainly. "You are?"

"Rick Rodgers, I'm a special agent from the FBI," Rick replied showing the woman his identification. "And this is my partner Detective Kate Castle from the NYPD, could we please have a word?"

Diana's face paled immediately. "Shit, it's about Caroline. Isn't it?" she said, not really asking a question.

"Ma'am, it _would_ be more appropriate to converse inside the apartment," Kate informed the woman gravely. "May we..."

"Of course of course! Just a tick."

Diana closed the door then slid the chain across and yanked the door open. "Come in, come in, come in!" she urged the pair. "Tell me what's happened? Have you found Carol-"

"Ma'am, perhaps we should take a seat in the living room," Rick suggested firmly, keen to get the woman in a sitting position before she inevitably broke from the news he was about to give her.

Diana veritably ran to the small living area and dropped into the nearest seat, Kate and Rick took a seat next to each other on the sofa preparing themselves to break the tragic news.

"Please don't beat about the bush," Diana pleased as she twiddled her fingers agitatedly. "Is Caroline dead?"

"It _is_ my unfortunate duty to inform you ma'am that yes-Caroline is dead," Rick replied cheerlessly. "It appears she is a victim of a homicide."

Diana let out a cry of devastated grief. "_Nooooooooooo!_" she wailed, her eyes filling with tears and her whole body crumpling in defeat. "_NONONONONONONONONONOOO!_"

"Ma'am, Diana-is there anyone we can call to come and be with you?" Kate asked after several long moments of allowing the woman to purge her grief. "Your husband...other children perhaps?"

"M-m-m'husb'nd," Diana croaked. "Ed-die, he works at the New Y-york T-times, he's-he's a g-graphic-art-tist."

"Would you like me to call him, ma'am?" Kate asked kindly. "Or would you prefer to do it yourself?"

"N'n-o I h-have t-to d-do it m-myself," Diana replied as she took a cotton handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose. "How did it h-happen?"

"How-" Rick began.

"How did she die?" Diana asked, looking the special agent directly in the eyes

Rick took a deep breath before replying. "The medical examiner that worked the case ascertained she was a victim-...a victim of a ligature strangulation, ma'am. I'm so terribly sorry," he answered reluctantly as the woman let out another strangled cry of grief. "It seems she had been deceased for some time when her body was discovered."

"_Oh my god__,__ my baby girl!_" Diana cried. "My baby girl!"

Inwardly Rick felt his heart break as he watched the woman before him break down upon taking in the information he was giving her. He knew if the shoe was on the other foot and Alexis had been the victim, he would be reacting in the exact same manner.

"Would you like Detective Castle and I to stay with you while you contact you husband, Diana?" He asked kindly. "There's some procedural stuff we can go through you or wait til your husband arrives home."

"P-please stay," Diana requested her voice barely louder than a whisper. "I n-need someone here."

"Would you like me to make you a cup of tea, Diana?" Kate asked kindly. "It's no trouble."

"Th-thanks Detective th-at w-would be l-lovely," Diana replied in a choked voice. "Tea and coffee is on the bench by the kettle. Excuse me; my cell is in the bedroom."

Diana got up and fled to a nearby bedroom and Rick flopped back in the sofa.

"I _hate _this part of the job," he said in a low voice as Kate got to her feet. "Actually delivering the news and watching as someone delivers the news are worlds apart. I'd feel the same if it were Alexis you know."

"I know you would," Kate answered, touching his shoulder softly as she made her way into the compact little kitchen. "Your compassion makes you good at what you do, Rick."

"I usually say the same to you," Rick replied with faint amusement watching Kate as she deftly lit the stove and put the kettle upon the flame. "I haven't done this in a while. Last time was just before the wedding."

"We can divide up the notifications from now on if you like."

"_Hmm maybe_."

A few minutes later Diana emerged from her bedroom, her makeup blotchy and red and streaked with makeup. Kate brought a teapot, mugs, sugar and some biscuits she's found in the pantry over on a plastic tray and settled them on the coffee table while Diana sat down and tried to calm herself by steadily breathing.

"W-when was Caroline found?" she asked in a miniscule voice.

"Six weeks ago, ma'am, but it wasn't until this morning when I was able to determine her identity," Rick replied as Kate poured the older woman a mug of steaming tea. "It appears there was a delay in lodging the missing persons report yourself and Mr Patte-"

"Niall Patterson, he's Carolin-_was _Caroline's fiancé." Diana choked out

"Yes, well as I was saying there appears to be an undetermined delay in the missing person's report going on the database til yesterday," Rick continued as the mother lifted the mug Kate gave her to her lips with shaking hands. "Detective Castle's team are currently trying to discover why it took so long in the report being lodged so late."

"Are you from the seventeenth precinct?" Diana asked Kate.

"No ma'am, Agent Rodgers and the rest of my team work out of the twelfth precinct," Kate replied. "The other side of town, Caroline's missing person's report came up on the state wide database that the FBI and NYPD both have access to."

"_Why_ did it take so long for the report to go through?" Diana wailed. "Niall and I reported her missing two months ago!"

"We're still trying to work that out, ma'am," Rick replied. "Detectives back at the twelfth are working right now to find out why it took so long to hit the database, but there are official avenues to go through seeing as you lodged this report at a different precinct."

"I understand."

"Would we be able to contact Niall, Diana?" Kate enquired in a soft, sympathetic tone. "As her fiancé, he needs to know too."

"He's back home in Australia," Diana replied. "He's from Melbourne, he's been ringing every two days to see of there's any update. He was organising to make the final move here. He's just been granted a long term working Visa, you see."

"Would you like us to ring him or would you prefer to do it yourself?" Kate asked. "We don't mind making the call, anything to lessen your grief."

"Thanks Detective, but I think it's best if Eddie and I make all the calls," Diana replied with a watery cough. "I have to call my girls and son. Eddie will call his boys and daughter, here's so many people who need to know."

"Well, if there's anything we can do please-don't hesitate to give us a call, either of us," Rick informed the grieving woman as he slid his business card across the coffee table. "We'll work as hard as we can to bring the person responsible to justice."

"Thank you."

Not even half an hour later there was a flurry if panicked knocks at the door to the apartment. A key was inserted into the lock and the door was forced open instantly snapping the slide chain. Instinctively Kate and Rick reached for their firearms and had them half out of their holsters before Diana leapt to her feet and raced over to the door as a man in his late forties stumbled into the room his face the pure picture of alarm.

"Diney?" he called. "_Diney?_"

Diana wrapped her arms around her husband and held him fast. "They found Caro, Eddie," she whispered. "_They found Caro._"

"You're the police?" Eddie enquired once he and his wife parted.

"Rick Rodgers, FBI and my partner Detective Kate Castle, NYPD," Rick spoke introducing himself and Kate. "We're working Caroline's case, Sir."

"She's dead?"

"Yes Sir, unfortunately she is," Rick replied gravely as Diana once again broke down in tears "we found her six weeks ago."

"_Six weeks ago?_" Eddie exclaimed angrily. "What the hell took you so long to come and tell us? _Jesus fucking Christ!_"

"Eddie _please..._." Diana pleaded.

"It appears the officer to whom Mrs Pilkington and Mr Patterson reported Caroline missing didn't immediately lodge the paperwork and as a result-her case didn't come up on the missing person's database til last week," Rick divulged. "And then it took the efforts of myself, Detective Castle and two of her colleagues at the twelfth precinct to confirm her identity. We had to trawl through thousands of profiles and compare fingerprints to confirm Caroline's identity-all while working other cases. I do apologise profusely for the delay, Sir, but we were trying our best with the resources we had."

"So why the hell is the FBI involved?" Eddie questioned rudely. "Was it a mob hit?"

"_Oh Eddie PLEASE!_" Diana exclaimed.

"Sir, I work as a consultant to the NYPD within the twelfth precinct homicide department when I'm not at the Manhattan field office," Rick replied patiently. "Caroline's case was simply one of the cases Detective Castle asked me to assist her and her colleagues in."

"Agent Rodgers help has been invaluable during the investigation so far," Kate piped up at the still angry man before them. "With his help I'm sure we'll apprehend the perpetrator sooner than later."

"Yes, well I apologise for my outburst," Eddie replied sheepishly. "It's just been a hard time I'm sure you understand."

"Yes, Sir, we do," Kate replied. "Now I don't know, this probably isn't something either of you want to do but despite Caroline being identified through her fingerprints and dental records we need someone to come to the coroner's office and identify the body. Would either you or Diana be willing to do that?"

* * *

"God, I'm glad _that's_ over, that notification particularly sucked," Rick announced once he and Kate were downstairs and out on the sidewalk and heading back to the Crown Vic. "I'd hate to have to do the notification for a kid."

"Oh, you don't _ever _want to do that," Kate replied weakly, leaning against her car, her slender face a definite shade of pale. "I've only ever done the notification for a juvenile once and I never _ever_ want to, oh God, I'm gonna _UGHHHHHHHH_..."

And with that the female detective whipped around bent over and vomited spectacularly over the driver's side door, Rick dropped the folder he was carrying in alarm and hurriedly grabbed his wife's hair as she expelled the contents of her stomach into the gutter.

"Shit, that came on quick!" he exclaimed as Kate let out a truly disgusting choking noise. "That's it, I know it's gross but you'll feel better afterwards."

Eventually there was nothing more to bring up and Kate stood up her mascara running down her cheeks and the faint peach lipstick she had been wearing gone.

"_I-don't-feel-well..._" she croaked.

"Right, I'm taking you home," Rick announced as he took the keys from Kate and unlocked the trunk to retrieve the bottle of water that was kept there for emergencies. "Damn the precinct, the case can wait."

"Oh no Rick, pleaaase-" Kate began.

"No, you're going home to bed," the Special Agent decided as he poured the water over the side of the door to wash it clean. "If you start disappearing into the bathroom at the precinct, Gates is going to get suspicious and send you home. And you know what Ryan and Esposito are like if they see you being sick, they'll tell Gates and then she'll get pissy at you for not going to her and requesting the day off."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Al-right," she conceded. "oh _gross__,_ my mouth feels furry."

"When we get home have a hot shower then brush your teeth," Rick instructed, pouring the rest of the water into the gutter and picking up the dropped folder. "And I'm going to go and buy you another pregnancy test. If you're not pregnant, I'm the Queen of England."

"Rick, I'm _not_ pregnant that pee stick test said I wasn't!" Kate exclaimed as Rick steered her to the passenger side of the car.

"Those things aren't a hundred percent accurate, Kate."

"It said ninety eight percent accuracy. Two percent is microscopic," Kate pointed out as she slid into the car. "I'm due a period, I'll wait for that to happen then I'll know for sure. No point in going to the doctor's or taking another test."

"When are you due?" Rick asked.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure because my cycles have been mucked up since I was a teenager but my boobs are sore and that only ever happens when I'm due a period." Kate revealed. "Don't buy another test, Rick. I _know_ my body; I know I'm not pregnant."

"Well-al-lright," he conceded. "You know how you're feeling physically better than anyone but you're still not going to convince me you're not pregnant. Meredith used to vomit without warning and at random before we knew Alexis was on her way. You _sure_ you don't want to go to the doctors? Maybe they can give you some pills to stop you barfing up."

"No, I'll be fine. I've gotten rid of whatever was making me sick," Kate replied as she wiped the mascara tracks from her eyes. "I already feel better."

"I'm still taking you home and putting you to bed," Rick decided walking to the other side of the Crown Vic and dropping into the driver's seat.

"Rick I am not a five year old!"

"I know, but you are _not_ well," Rick replied starting the car. "If you're feeling better in the morning, then I'll let you go to the precinct but if not I am going to take some time off and stay with you at the loft."

Kate rolled her eyes, the very hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "You're irritating," she proclaimed in amusement. "Alright, I'll let you take me home but I _am_ going in tomorrow morning."

"We'll discuss _that_ in the morning," Rick replied as he put his phone in the phone jack and dialled the bullpen.

"_Gates__._"

"Sir, its Castle, just thought I'd ring and let you know Kate's ill and I'm taking her home to the loft," Rick said as he reversed he car and turned out of the space. "When she's settled, I'll bring the Crown Vic back to the precinct."

"Alright, thank you for letting me know," Gates replied. "Are you alright, Kate?"

"I'm _fine_, Castle's just being irritatingly cautious," Kate replied dryly as her husband turned the car in the direction of TriBeCa.

"She vomited all over the side of the Crown Vic," Rick piped up pointedly.

"_She didn't need to know that!_" Kate yelped.

"_Yes, __**she**_ did," Gates replied firmly. "Castle take the rest of the day off and you're off 'on call' duties tomorrow night. Swap with Eggerstrom and Stegner. That's an order _okay?_"

"Yes Sir," Kate grumbled, shooting Rick the deepest of death glares. "See you tomorrow morning."

"Take care."

The line disconnected.

"Did you really have to tell her I barfed?" Kate asked in annoyance. "I could've gotten away with-"

"No, you wouldn't have," Rick replied cutting his wife off mid rant. "Because if you hadn't told her you were feeling unwell, I would've. And don't give me that look, Kate. I may be doing this primarily because I'm your husband and I love you but I'm also doing this because I'm your work partner and work partner's don't let the other work when they're under the weather. If I were ill, you'd tell Gates and you'd probably ring Brian at the field office."

Kate scowled.

* * *

The two partners' rode in silence back to the loft and didn't speak til they reached the top floor where the loft was situated.

"I'm annoyed at you," Kate announced as she strode across the floor of their home. "I am quite capable of going back to work. I'm nauseous not shot."

Rick's face fell. "_Not funny_," he murmured. "Not funny at all Kate."

"I know, I apologise I shouldn't have said that," Kate replied guiltily as she entered their bedroom. "I appreciate you doing this I just-"

"Don't like going home when an investigation is just starting I know," Rick replied softly. "Just do this for me now and we'll go into the precinct tomorrow, okay? It's only half a day."

Kate smiled and leaned into the kiss he pressed to her forehead. "Alright, I'll do this," she agreed.

Rick stayed til Kate had a hot shower and was tucked into their bed, clad in a pair of cheekies and one of his shirts.

"Alright, I better head back to the precinct to drop off the Crown Vic," he informed her leaning down and capturing her lips with his. "I'll let Gates and the boys know what we got done today, then I'll come right back and if you're feeling up to it I might bring home some curry from the Bangkok Grill, something with extra ginger in it to settle your stomach."

Kate smiled. "You're sweet," she said.

"I love you, Tulip."

"Love you too, Rick."

* * *

A/N2: My laptop is in hospital again so the next chapter might be a while in coming. I'll write in the meantime but getting access to the net is going to be limited.

Reviews feed the beast!


	8. Theatricality

**A/N1: Helo peoples and WELCOME to the fifteenth Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'Theatricality' In this chapter Rick and Kate's story continues with featured performances from the Rysposito Monster and a Russian with big boobs. I would like to preface this chapter by apologising to those of you who speak Russian, I do not speak it so I've resorted to Google Translate which I know is NOT the font of accuracy. I hope that the Russian I have used in this chapter doesn't detract from the context of where it's used. Hope you enjoy the read!**

* * *

"How are you feeling this morning?" Rick asked Kate a few days later as they shared breakfast in the loft.

"Much better," the female detective replied as she stirred honey into her Porridge. "This bug or..._whatever_ it is I have is only sporadic, I feel a bit blah for a few days then have a bit of a barf then I'm fine for another few days. I'm not getting any worse and Lanie said yesterday at lunch that if it's not getting any worse not to worry so much. I told her I'm not the one worrying, you are."

"I can't help but do so, Kate. It's twice you've ralphed on the job, something no one has ever seen you do, even Kevin and Javi are getting worried about you. They've both said when I've been at the field office working on cases there-you've been unusually quiet and been on the back foot when it comes to interrogations _and_ been spending more time doing paperwork than field work. I _know_ you still don't feel a hundred percent because you doing more paperwork over field work is not normal."

"Those two can't shut up." Kate grumbled.

"Kate, don't be like that, the boys love and care for you as their best friend and a fellow cop. They only told me their observations because they're concerned about you."

"Wish they would've said something to me," Kate mumbled after swallowing a mouthful of porridge.

"They probably didn't because when you're ill, you're grumpy and they didn't want to be on the end of that," Rick reasoned as he spread butter on his toast. "I know within the first week of meeting you that when you're in a bad mood for whatever reason it's best to leave you alone unless absolutely necessary. The boys obviously having known you longer and have the same opinion."

Kate couldn't help it and smiled. "You learned that within the first week?" she said. "That didn't stop you from being an irritating pain in the ass."

"Oh very funny," Rick replied dryly. "I said I _learned__,_ not that I followed that observation-anyway that's not the point. Please don't push yourself, _especially_ when I know you're not a hundred percent or I'll go to Gates, you don't argue with her."

"You wouldn't!"

"Watch me," Rick vowed. "She's watching you as close as I am Kate, so if you start to feel worse - back away from your work load before she makes you do it, okay? Promise me?"

Kate's heart melted with affection for her husband as she looked into his concerned baby blues. "Alright I promise," she vowed. "I'm just so rarely sick, you know? Until I got shot, I only ever went to the doctor's for a flu shot. I don't want to go all the time, consulting rooms are depressing and I'm only a little nauseous and fatigued. I don't want to go to the doctor's when all that it takes for me to feel better is consume more fluids and going to bed a little earlier."

"Okay then, but I'll still be watching you like a hawk."

Kate swallowed the last mouthful of her porridge then slid off the bar stool and padded into the kitchen. "You're sweet, thank you," she murmured, standing on her toes and dropping a starchy kiss to his cheek. "I'll brush my teeth then we'll head off, okay?"

"Sure ... hey Kate?"

The brunette turned around her eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Mmm?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Rick."

* * *

"So, when do you start your first training session for 'Dancing with the Stars'?" Kate asked only an hour later as they arrived at the precinct.

"Today!" Rick exclaimed. "I told you last night and again this morning while I was shaving, remember?"

"You did? _This_ morning?"

"Yeah, last night when I was watching you play the piano and this morning when I was at the vanity shaving-not even an hour and a half ago, you seriously forgot?" Rick asked in surprise as he slung his gym bag over his shoulder with one hand and lacing the fingers of the other through Kate's. "Anastasia's picking me up at two, from here. And you're picking me up from the studio at six"

"I honestly don't remember," Kate replied sheepishly. "Shit Rick, what's happening to me? I haven't felt myself for weeks, I can't remember the last time I wasn't nauseous, I forget things, I vomit on the job and my energy levels evaporate at the drop of a hat."

"Does it really concern you?" Rick asked as they walked through the main entrance of the precinct. "Does it worry you? If it does make an appointment to see your doctor, please do that. Because if you faint at work or vomit again, I'm going to tie you to a bed til you get better."

Kate let out an amused snort of laughter as the pressed the button for the Homicide Department. "Normally you tying me up would appeal to me," she informed him with a small smile. "But lately, anything like that has been a turn off and I don't want it to be, I _want_ you to touch me. It upsets me that since we got home from our honeymoon, you've had to...tend to your own 'business.'"

"How about tonight I give you a massage?" Rick suggested as the elevator clunked upwards with the occasionally metallic scrape. "No pressure, some lavender massage oil because that'll help you relax and some nice music, nothing sexual, unless of course you want to go there."

"Let's see how things go," Kate replied with a small smile and a squeeze of his hand. "With four cases on the go the stress of dividing my time equally between them all might make me _need_ a massage."

"Well let's get some take out on the way home from Anastasia's studio then after we've eaten, you go and have a hot bath and while you're soaking in the water I'll set up the massage table, and I think there's still some tea light candles in the utility cupboard."

"You don't have to go _that_ far," Kate responded in amusement as the elevator ascended. "You haven't given me a massage with candles since Valentines Day. That was six months ago. There's no special occasion that would require candles."

"I'll make it a special occasion." Rick vowed. "We've been so busy since we got back from our honeymoon, Tulip. We've not taken time out for ourselves. Either you've been busy at the precinct when I've been free or I've been busy at the field office when you've been free. We've not been able to have a date night or put ourselves in the mood to try for a baby. From next week I'm not at the field office unless it's absolutely necessary because I'm going to have to spend most of my days training for Dancing but I'm going to do my damndest to make a date nigh at least once a week. We haven't been to Valentino's for months."

Kate smiled and squeezed his hand. "Thanks, you're very sweet," she murmured. "You're determined to make me feel better, aren't you?"

"You bet I am," the Writer replied determinedly. "You did the same after I got out of hospital last year. It's what partner's do, isn't it? In sickness and in heath I believe we vowed back in May."

"You're using our wedding vows as a guilt trip?" Kate questioned in amusement as the elevator arrived on the homicide floor.

"Yup, is it working?" Rick replied with a chuckle as they stepped out onto the floor. "Hey Espo!"

"_Oh brother._"

"Mr and Mrs Castle," the Latino detective replied cheerfully, lifting his mug of coffee to them in salute. "One down today, Honey Milk had to take Jenny to hospital this morning."

"Oh no!" Kate exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

"Not sure but apparently Jenny's been throwing up non stop and in the end Kevin called an ambulance, he texted me from the ER and said he wouldn't be in today. He said he would let us know what's happening soon."

"Will she be admitted?" Kate asked in concern as she dropped her handbag into the lower drawer of her desk and switched on the computer.

"Have no idea," Esposito replied, following his colleague into the break room. "It's just a case of wait and see, I think. He'll let us know what happens."

"I can understand why he's worried, Jenny's hardly ever sick," Kate voiced, sitting down as Rick bustled about the espresso machine making their morning cup of Joe. "I can't remember the last time she even had a cold."

"Same, well I've had my coffee I'm going to jump right into the Sports Bag case, Tech said they had some CCTV footage for me so I'm going to chase that up."

"Thanks Javi."

"Jenny's sick, I'm not a hundred percent, only Lanie is left then all three of us will be walking talking barfing machines," Kate groaned as Rick textured the milk for their coffees. "If Lanie gets sick, I'll be surprised. The only thing she's gone to a doctor for since I met her-is a flu injection and I think the last couple of years she administered them to herself."

"Well you _wouldn't _be ill if you went to the doctor," Rick informed his partner mildly as he extracted a shot of coffee into her favourite NYPD mug. "You could at least get some medication that would stop you throwing up."

"Rick it's only been twice..." Kate began.

"Bullshit, I've heard you retch twice while having a shower this week and I swear you vomited this morning while I was still in bed," Rick responded. "_Yes__,_ I heard you."

Kate turned a magnificent shade of scarlet. "It was probably because I took those ginger pills Lanie gave me on an empty stomach," she defended. "I ate some porridge and took two more and I've kept both down."

"Uh huh _sure_," Rick said in disbelief adding vanilla syrup to her coffee then skilfully pouring the milk in after it. "I'll believe you _thousands_ wouldn't."

Kate's face twisted into a scowl. "Rick, I'm _fine_," she grumped, taking the mug from him roughly and causing the hot liquid to slosh over the side slightly. "If I really thought I was ill, I _would_ go to the doctor. It's a bug going around, Eggerstrom was sick with a lung infection last week and when I saw you at the field office last week Agent Peters accidentally sneezed on me. Don't you think _maybe_ I may have caught a bug from those two?"

"It's a possibility," Rick conceded as he stirred hazelnut creamer into his coffee. "But those guys weren't ill when you first barfed up at the sports bag scene, Peters was on paternity leave and you've been feeling off way before Trevor got sick."

Kate's scowl intensified. "I'm not fu-I'm not sick, _alright?_" she snapped, cutting herself off mid cuss as Gates strode past the break room door. "I know my body better than you, Rick. And I don't need you hassling me. I'm heading up four investigations at the moment and I need your help not your hindrance, if you're just going to harp on about my health go to the damn field office and leave me the hell alone."

His wife's sudden mood swing astounded Rick and he choked on his coffee.

"Kate, I'm just being concerned for your welfare," he said with a sigh. "As your husband _and partner_, if the shoe was on the other foot I _know_ you'd do exactly as I am."

"I wouldn't hassle you," the female detective snapped back as she took a sip of her coffee and screwed up her nose in distaste. "_Yuck! What did you do to this? UGH!_"

And with that Kate strode over to the sink and dumped the contents of her mug down the drain.

"What's wrong with it?" Rick asked, slightly hurt.

"It was bitter as hell and you burnt the milk," Kate replied, yanking open the door of the refrigerator and grabbing the jug of water within. "Great, not even nine-thirty and I haven't had a coffee-"

"You had one this morning at the loft," Rick reminded her.

The death glare the writer received would have stopped a rampaging rhinoceros in its tracks.

"Never mind, never mind. I'll just go help Espo and stay out your hair," Rick exclaimed, waving his hands in front of him, defensively.

And with that the Special Agent strode out of the room and made his way into the bullpen, dropping down at Ryan's desk and turning on the Irish Detective's computer.

"Bro?" Esposito questioned.

"_Women_," Rick replied under his breath. "_I'm surrounded by them, and __**still**__ after forty two years I don't get them._"

"I don't think guys are _ever_ supposed to get women, dude," Esposito informed his friend. "Mysteries, every single one of them."

"Hmmm, well how about we get on with work? Heard back from tech yet?"

* * *

Rick worked solidly with Esposito throughout the morning, assisting the Latino detective retrieve then analyse the CCTV vision from tech and further investigating Caroline Bannister's life in an attempt to find someone who would want the vivacious young animator dead. He didn't speak a word to Kate outside work related conversation and even then it was 'yup' or 'nope'. The tension in the air was tangible and after four hours of almost silent work Esposito spoke up.

"Jesus, will you two just _talk?_" he hissed as Kate approached his desk with a folder. "The tension is killing me here, I could cut the air with a chainsaw. I'm starting to think that I live in an episode of Bold and the Beautiful."

Rick couldn't help it and let out a snort of laughter. He then opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the elevator doors opening and a dishevelled Kevin Ryan tumbling out his face aglow. The Irish Detective tripped up and fell sprawling on the wooden floor.

"_Shit!_" he cussed. "_Ow!_"

Rick and Esposito leapt to their feet and with Kate rushed over to their colleague who immediately leapt to his feet and brushed down his shirt front.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he told them rubbing his right elbow. "Crap, that's gonna cane!"

"Coffee?" Rick suggested as his friend re-adjusted his shirt.

"That'd be _great_," Ryan answered his bright blue eyes alive with excitement. "Or even some champagne."

"Ah, there's gotta be a reason for Champagne," Rick answered in amusement as the group made their way into the break room. "What's up? If it's good, I'll swipe a bottle of Perignon from the Old Haunt."

"Well you know how Jenny's been off colour the last few weeks?" Ryan began.

"Of course, go on, is she alright? Espo said you took her to hospital during the night."

"Yeah I did," Ryan replied. "Well, we got to St Luke's and the doctors in the ER took some blood, put Jen on a saline drip to re-hydrate her and gave her an injection to stop her throwing up. It's nothing terminal, an in addition to dehydration from the throwing up the final diagnosis is Hyperemesis Gravidarum."

Both Rick and Esposito looked nonplussed. But Kate lit up and leapt into Ryan's arms engulfing her friend and colleague in a crushing huh. He grunted in surprise and stumbled back in an attempt to regain his balance.

"_Really?_" Kate squealed excitedly. "Oh, that's _wonderful!_"

"Jenny being sick is wonderful?" Rick wondered, ever so confused by his wife's change in mood.

"Should I tell him or should I?" Ryan said to Kate with a chuckle.

Kate couldn't help herself. "Hyperemesis Gravidarum is morning sickness," she revealed. "Like really really _really_ bad morning sickness."

Both Rick and Esposito lit up. "_Jenny's pregnant?_" the two men chorused in perfect unison.

Ryan nodded. "Yup, about three months along," he revealed, digging into his jacket pocket and retrieving a photo. "I was with her when the attending in the ER conducted an ultrasound. He thought she was just bloated but..."

Kate took the photo from her friend and studied it. "Oh, this is _lovely!_" she exclaimed. "You have to frame this one."

"It'll be the first entry into a baby book." Ryan informed her with a grin as Rick slapped his shoulder and Esposito hugged him. "I'm just heading home to shower and change and pack Jen a bag before I head back to the hospital. You're the first I've told. Not even our families know yet."

"Awesome bro, awesome," Esposito said. "Give Jenny our best, won't you?"

"I'll do that definitely," the Irish detective replied. "She's already getting better. The drip the ER docs put her on started working right away. If you like you'll all be able to visit tomorrow, Jenny said she would like to see you all again. It's been a while."

"We'll ring through before making a trip," Kate informed her friend. "This is great news, bro. I know you and Mrs Honey Milk have been trying for a while."

Ryan immediately turned pink. "Yeah we have," he mumbled. "The stress of trying to get pregnant was getting to both of us. This is a happy relief, it really is."

"This is the start of a nice big Irish Catholic family, huh?" Rick teased. "Give it a few years and you're going to have to trade in the sedan for the Partridge Family bus."

"Oh shut up," Ryan groaned as Kate and Esposito roared with laughter. "Not all Irish Catholic families have a dozen kids. I can't afford to father that many."

Esposito sniggered heartily. "Good luck, bro. You and Jenny really deserve this," he said sincerely. "We all wish you all the best."

Rick and Kate nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"I'm definitely going to have to swipe a bottle of Perignon from the Old Haunt now, this is something worth celebrating-" Rick began.

"Celebrating are we?" a familiar voice said from the doorway. "Perignon, very fancy."

"You have the senses of a bloodhound whenever anyone mentions champagne, _Mother_," Rick groaned dryly as Martha swept into the break room. "Yes, we are celebrating as it so happens."

"And what's the occasion?" the actress inquired cheerfully looking at each of them in turn.

"Jenny's pregnant," Ryan revealed, his grin widening. "Just found out this morning, I had to take her to hospital because she couldn't stop vomiting and after all these tests including an ultrasound, we found out we're expecting."

"Oh Kevin, darling. That's _wonderful!_" Martha exclaimed embracing the Irish detective in a crushing hug. "Congratulations, how's Jenny now?"

"Still very ill but getting better every hour," Ryan replied. "She's in a ward and on a saline drip to help her get over the dehydration. The doctors want to keep her in for a couple of days so I came here to get some more time off from Gates and tell everyone the news."

"Well give her all my best," Martha said brightly.

"I will I will, thanks Mrs R."

"So to what do we owe the visit?" Rick asked his mother as he lined coffee mugs up on the bench. "You never come to the precinct."

"I have a bit of news myself," Martha replied mysteriously. "Worth celebrating with _another_ bottle of Perignon, I think.

Rick rolled his eyes. "I'll be the judge of that, Mother," he groaned. "It must be something big for you to visit the precinct."

"Well, you know how I auditioned for the Mother Abbess part in the next big production of the Sound of Music a few weeks ago?"

"Of course."

"_I got the part!"_ Martha shrilled her voice nearing a screech. "_I-GOT-THE-PART!_"

"Mother _SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_" Rick exclaimed, shushing his mother as she clapped her hands excitedly.

"Did you really, Martha?" Kate exclaimed happily. "When did you find out?"

"Just half an hour ago," the actress supplied. "The producers rang me and offered me the part. Rehearsals start next week with an estimated premiere date of November seventeenth."

"My birthday!" Kate exclaimed.

"I know what the Castle family's doing that night," Rick declared with a chuckle. "Congratulations Mother, have you rung Alexis yet?"

"Tried to but her cell phone's turned off," Martha replied, accepting a steaming mug of coffee from her son. "I expect she's in a lecture or at lunch."

"My mother's a nun,' god I never thought I'd be saying _that_." Rick joked giving Ryan his usual double shot hazelnut cappuccino. "I don't think anyone's going to believe me til the cast list is released."

"Oh shush you," Martha admonished giving her son an affectionate shove. "I trust you'll all come to opening night, I'll get tickets for everyone in the bullpen."

"Can count Lanie and me in Mrs R," Esposito piped up.

"Jen and I too," Ryan added.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Kate informed the ebullient actress. "I doubt anyone here would either."

"Oh lovely, just lovely!" Martha exclaimed. "I'm not allowed to tell anyone else aside from family, so if you can keep it to yourselves for the time being..."

"You can count on us," Ryan piped up. "We're in the business of looking after our own Mrs R. We'll keep the news under wraps."

After much celebrating the group broke up.

"I better head off, I promised Jenny I wouldn't be too long," Ryan informed his friends as he rinsed out his mug. "I'll let you know when it's a good time to visit, alright?"

"No rush, we can always visit you at home," Kate informed her friend as she stepped forward to embrace him. "Congratulations Kevin, you and Jenny are going to be the _best_ parents."

"Thanks Kate, that means a lot."

"C'mon Kevin, darling. I'll give you a ride home," Martha offered the male detective as she chivvied him out of the break room. "We can celebrate on the drive home."

"Be careful," Rick joked cautioning his friend. "Now that she's got the part, you'll have to put up with her singing and if there's a traffic jam-you'll know the set list from Sound of Music off by heart by the time you get home."

Martha rolled her eyes. "Oh, somebody should have been a comedian_,_" she responded, linking her arm through Ryan's. "I shall speak with you _later__,_ Richard. See you soon Katherine, Javier!"

A murmured reply followed the ebullient actress as she pulled Ryan down the hallway toward the elevator-taking at a million miles an hour.

"She really is going to teach him the entire Sound of Music set, isn't she?" Rick said out loud. "Should I be scared for him?"

"Nah bro, he'll be alright," Esposito assured him as his desk phone began ringing. "Ah, that'll be the lab."

"How did you know what Hyperemesis Gravidarum was?" Rick asked Kate as they made their way back into the break room. "Even I've never heard of it."

"Just bits and pieces I've researched on pregnancy since we started trying for a baby," Kate replied softly avoiding his eyes. "Only a small percentage of women get it, the Duchess of Cambridge had it at the end of last year, remember?"

"I vaguely remember her being in hospital just before Christmas."

"Well she had Hyperemesis Gravidarum," Kate continued. "I went online and researched it out of curiosity. And most of the forums I went on it was indicated most women who suffer from it end up having boys."

"Ooooh look at you being a research nerd," Rick teased picking up his coffee and taking a sip of his coffee. "I thought I was the only Castle who did that."

Kate blushed a handsome shade of rouge. "I use the Wikipedia app on my phone the most," she confessed. "I look up the etymology of words and descriptions of medical conditions more than you think."

"You word nerd," Rick teased, setting down his mug and casually pulling her close with his hands on her hips.

"Pffft _you're_ the word nerd," Kate scoffed, easily settling into his embrace her slender hips pressing into his like two jigsaw pieces. "Hey, about this morning...I feel stupid for acting so childishly. I'm sorry I really am. I acted like a petulant two year old."

Rick leaned forward and gently pressed a soft kiss to his wife's forehead taking the time to enjoy her touch and alluring scent of coffee, cherries and Paris perfume. "That's alright," he murmured, tucking a whisp of hair behind her ear. "Are you feeling better?"

"Physically, emotionally...?" Kate asked.

"Both, in general."

"Physically I'm fine, I've been chewing on sugared trail mix all morning and made myself a strawberry shake and kept it all down," Kate replied. "Still feel a bit emotional but much better now that I've apologised."

"Sugared trail mix? _Yuck,_" Rick exclaimed screwing up his nose in taste. "How can you, ew just, _ew._"

"I made it myself,' Kate answered brightly. "I bought a huge bag of trail mix from this little health food shop next to the café Lanie and I had lunch at last week and just added a little sugared olive oil to it. The best bit is the glazed ginger..."

Rick chuckled heartily.

"Now you're a food nerd," he teased. "Well I'm glad you're feeling better, I have been worried about you all morning despite our little 'discussion' this morning."

"I promise if I get any worse, I'll go to the doctor," Kate informed him in a soft tone as she rested her forehead against his her red lips mere millimetres from his. "You'd think after all the medical attention I've had in the last couple of years, I'd be more concerned with constantly feeling nauseous."

"Well _yes_," Rick agreed hesitatingly. "But no one can force you to go, Kate. I only ever suggested you go because I love you and I was concerned for you."

Kate cupped his face in her hands and kissed him languidly. "I know," she whispered. "But know this, I feel well more often than unwell. That's good isn't it?"

Rick returned her kiss. "It is,' he agreed. "Glad yo-"

"_Vichard Castle?_" a woman with a thick Russian accent inquired.

Rick pulled away from Kate hurriedly and turned around to look at the source of the voice. A short slender brunette with enormous breasts stood in the doorway of the break room looking apprehensive and a little embarrassed she had interrupted such an intimate moment.

"Anastasia?" he asked, standing up.

"Yes," she replied in a thick Russian accent. "Sorry, am I inervupting?"

"No, no of course not, just taking a break from work," Rick muttered, striding forward with his hand outstretched his eyes fixed on the Russian's cleavage. "Been busy-"

Kate noticed the line of her husband's vision and joined him, her brow creased in annoyance. "_Ahem_." She said pointedly elbowing the Special Agent in the ribs.

"Oh yeah, um, Anastasia this is my wife, Kate," Rick piped up, turning a magnificent shade of scarlet at being caught out staring at another woman's breasts. "Kate this is Anastasia Smirnova, my 'Dancing With the Stars' partner. Kate speaks Russian too."

Anastasia who seemed to be the same age as Kate lit up like a Christmas tree. "O vy delali? Eto zamechatel'no ! Otkuda vy uznali ?." (_'Oh you do? That's wonderful! Where did you learn?_)

"Po obmenu poyezdki v Peterburg, v moyem starshem klasse sredney shkoly" (_On an exchange trip to St Petersburg in my senior year of High school_) Kate replied "YA ne vernulsya s tekh por , no ya khotel by vernut'sya , mozhet byt', k zimney Olimpiade v sleduyushchem godu." ('_I haven't been back since but I'd like to return, maybe for the Winter Olympics next year_)

"You two ladies are going to have to teach me Russian, I only know how to say-" Rick began.

"Yeah alright, that doesn't need to be included in decent conversation." Kate scolded, her face turning a magnificent shade of scarlet. "I'll teach you more socially acceptable conversation at a later date."

Rick grinned and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Sounds good." He said.

"So shall ve go?" Anastasia suggested, looking at the watch on her wrist. "Vee need to start training straight avay and turn you into a vorld champeeon dancer!"

"Yup, I'll just turn off my computer then get my bag!" Rick announced enthusiastically, leading the Russian and Kate back into the bullpen. "I can't wait to get started!"

"Yo Castle, you going to be adding some spandex to your wardrobe, bro?" Esposito called form his desk. "Maybe some sequins?"

All the personnel on the floor howled with laughter.

Rick rolled his eyes. "Hilarious, do you write your own material?," he said dryly as he shut down his computer and unlocked the largest of the three drawers of his desk. "Very funny Esposito."

The Latino detective sniggered appreciatively

Rick pulled his gym bag out of his desk draw then stood up and slung it over his shoulder.

"Well I better be off," he said cheerfully.

Kate wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and leaned into him.

"_Have fun_," she whispered. "_But if I __**ever**__ catch you staring at another woman's boobs in front of me again__,__ you'll regret it__-__okay?_"

Rick pulled back his face ashen and saying one thing..._busted__._

"O-okay," he stammered. "See you soon?"

"Zabotit'sya o nem Anastasiya , ne pozvolyayte yemu byt' lenivymi ili travit!" (_'Look after him Anastasia, don't let him be lazy or slack off'_)

Anastasia laughed. "YA ne pozvolyayte ni odnomu iz moikh studentov travit," (_I do not let any of my students slack off_) she said her acid green eyes alive with amusement "YA budu rabotat' yego zhestkoy kazhduyu minutu nashikh treningov otnyne budet do kontsa Tantsy." _(I'll work him hard every single minute of our training sessions from now til the end of Dancing'_)

"You two are going to have fun with me, aren't you?" Rick groaned as Kate grinned. "I knew choosing Italian over Russian in High School would come back to bite me in the ass."

"Don't vorry Vichard by zee end of Dancing Vis the Stars, you vil have learnt the Vussian language," Anastasia declared. "Very easy language to learn."

"Not what I've heard."

"Go on scoot, I'll see you at six," Kate said kissing him on the lips. "Work hard."

"Cha Cha Cha Special Agent Spandex!" Ryan teased.

"Right, I'm revoking your right to free booze at the Old Haunt," Rick informed the Irish detective, the hint of a smile on his lips. "And Espo if you continue with that I'm going to add you to that list too."

"Hey, I wasn't going to say anything!" Esposito exclaimed.

"Yeah sure, anyway see you guys later."

As soon as Anastasia and Rick disappeared into the elevator Esposito approached Kate's desk.

"So..." he said.

"So _what_ Esposito?" Kate asked, still peeved at catching Rick staring at Anastasia's cleavage.

"Ana_stasia_ and Rick, huh?"

"What are you getting at?" Kate snapped trying hard and failing to concentrate on the paperwork in front of her.

"Nothing bad, you know Rick is faithful to you, Kate. He worships the ground you walk on. You don't have anything to worry about."

"_I caught him starting at her tits twice__,__ Javi!_" Kate hissed. "_God, they're enormous!_"

"Kate, trust me. You've got nothing to worry about," Esposito assure his friend. "Writer Boy is devoted to you and gives you puppy dog eyes all the time. Anastasia is his dance partner for a few weeks, that's it."

"I know, it's just..." Kate mumbled letting her sentence trail off.

"Kate, you're his wife and he doesn't look at other women like he does with you," Esposito continued. "Call it a momentary infraction. I'm guilty of it and _yes_ I will tell Lanie."

"You sneaked a look too?" Kate asked in amusement.

"Chica every dude in the bullpen sneaked a look," Esposito revealed. "Even Karpowski looked. But trust me, Writer Boy didn't look at her sexually. That is a privilege reserved strictly for you."

"_Hmmmm_."

"You need a distraction," Esposito decided. "How about I help you tie up the Proctor case for the DA then we head to the gym to spar at the end of shift? Blow out the cobwebs."

Kate smiled, grateful for her friend's offer. "Thanks Javi, I might just take you up on that offer,' she said. "Thanks, y'know for..."

"Anytime Chica anytime."

* * *

A/N2: Reviews feed the beast peeps!


	9. No Doubt About It

**A/N: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 14th Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'No Doubt About It' I wrote this chapter several months ago while writing Absolution and dealing with a ferocious case of writer's block. I left it to stew then edited it and turned it over to my beta and now I present to you THIS. I hope you enjoy the read!**

* * *

"I'm not feeling very good." Kate said to Rick the next day "All day at the precinct I've felt headachy and feverish."

"Why didn't you say anything?" the Writer asked in alarm as his wife flopped onto the sofa of his office, her face a definite shade of white.

"Because I only felt it in passing," Kate replied, rubbing her face. "It was most obvious when we were in the observation room watching Javi and Kevin interrogate Emily Proctor, I almost barfed up in the trash can."

Rick saved what he was writing then got up and made his way over to the couch where Kate was resting. "Do you feel nauseous now?" he asked in concern sitting on the edge of the couch and brushing her hair form her eyes.

"I do actually," Kate admitted, making a face. "I'm starting to feel worse than when I had the flu five years ago. I was so sick I had to take three weeks sick leave."

Rick leaned down and kissed Kate on the forehead. "So you're not up to my gastronomic world famous Lasagne for dinner?" he asked. "Wednesday night is our Italian night."

Kate paled significantly. "Ew no," she moaned. "Not ew your food, ew any food at all. I don't think I could manage a rice cracker right now."

"Have you eaten at all today?" Rick asked in concern.

"Nothing apart from the bear claw and coffee you bought me this morning, and they both tasted funny," Kate confessed. "My coffee tasted bitter and sort of sour."

"So you don't like the new barista at Angelo's then." Rick joked

Kate laughed but almost immediately regretted it as a violent wave of nausea washed over her.

"Oh _don't_, I almost barfed!" she groaned retching a little. "Oh god, I feel sick!"

And with that the nausea returned with full force and the female detective leaned to the side and vomited spectacularly on the cream coloured carpet splattering Rick, the side of the sofa and some of the carpet with what little stomach content she had.

"_Oh goooooooood!_" she groaned her face the expression of disbelief. "Oh God, Rick. I'm so sorry!"

"Right, you're going to bed," the Writer declared, scooping his wife up. "_Now_."

"I'm not laying in bed covered in sick!" Kate groaned weakly as her husband took her from the office into their spacious bedroom. "The sheets are just new, take me to the shower instead."

The Writer turned on a dime and made his way through to the bathroom setting Kate down on the edge of the bath.

"I'm getting in the shower with you," he declared, hurriedly pulling off his shirt and trousers. "if you retch that hard again you could pass out."

"Rick, I am _perfectly_ capable of having a shower on my own!" Kate snapped, allowing her husband to help her out of her clothes.

"Fine, you can clean yourself up then." Rick snapped back, getting up and leaving Kate behind.

Rick strode out of the bathroom and returned to the study where he cleaned up the carpet and sofa. He then made his way upstairs to the second bathroom. He turned on the water and waited til the room was full of steam before stepping under the water wincing slightly as the scalding water hit his skin.

The Special Agent was occupied with washing his hair his mind consumed with Kate's odd behaviour over the last few weeks when he heard the stall door open and felt his wife enter the shower.

"What d'you want Kate?" he asked mildly, still pissed off at her.

"To apologise," the brunette replied, her tone sheepish. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it was really dumb. I'm sorry, really I am."

Rick instantly felt his inside dissolve into a gooey pile of mush. _He could never stay mad at her for too long. _"I know you are," he murmured, wrapping his muscular arms around her slim frame. "What's been the deal with you the last few weeks? You've been down and hardly smiled and not been yourself. I don't think you've been cheerful for longer than five minutes since we got back from our honeymoon. I'm not used to you being so introverted."

"I don't know what's wrong with me!" Kate wailed, her green eyes welling with tears. "I've been feeling shit since a couple of weeks after we got back from our honeymoon. I'm so physically tired all the time it's made me doubt my ability to do the job, my mood is crap and I find myself getting teary all the time and my libido has disappeared. I'm starting to have trouble the last time we had sex. It's getting that bad!"

And with that, the female detective burst into tears, slumping against Rick's muscular frame, her shoulders shuddering from the effort of crying. He held her fast to his fame and carefully slid down to the bottom of the shower, alcove as the water streamed against their bodies.

"Tulip, I'm worried about you," he said once Kate had cried herself out. "You haven't been yourself for weeks. I don't think I've seen you genuinely smile once since we got back fro-"

"Our honeymoon?" Kate finished. "Yeah well-that's when I last felt normal, I snapped at both Javi and Kevin today for no apparent reason and I almost yelled at Gates. And at the time I felt no remorse. I mean-that is _not_ like me."

"You snapped at Kevin, Javi _and_ Gates?" Rick exclaimed in surprise. "_When?_"

"After you left for your training session with Anastasia," Kate revealed. "I thought Kevin and Javi were taking too long to do something that I asked them to do and Gates heard me, she then snapped at me."

"I think you should make an appointment to see your doctor in the morning." Rick said sagely. "Don't you think it's about time, Tulip?"

"I just wanna stay home and make babies," Kate murmured. "But the thing is I have absolutely _no_ sex drive. The whole time we've been together I haven't been able to stop myself from thinking about what I'd like to do with you in the bedroom, but when the time comes and I'm ready to start a family-I can't be bothered to do the act that makes that possible!"

"We've got plenty of time to start a family, Tulip. There is no rule to say we have to do it right now," Rick told the brunette with a chuckle. "When you feel ready to start trying again, I'll be here. You know that."

"God, the way I'm feeling at the moment. Alexis will have kids before we will," Kate groaned, swallowing hard as she fought the wave of nausea that washed over her.

"That's not going to happen, Alexis is far too involved in college to think about having her own family just yet," Rick said in amusement. "Babies will come for us eventually, sweetheart. And I for one-can't wait. I want to see you with a swollen belly."

"And a fat ass?" Kate grumbled snuggling into her husband's muscular form.

"More of you to love,' Rick replied with a chuckle. "But I don't think you will get a fat ass. You'll get big boobs though. I'm looking forward to those."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Kate said dryly as the writer cupped one of her breasts in his large hand and sucked the nipple into his mouth. "_Ahh!_ Be careful, Rick. They're sore."

"You know what I think?" Rick asked instantly stopping his ministrations to her cleavage.

"What?" Kate asked in amusement.

"I think you're pregnant already."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Oh _pfft really?_" she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You've said that before."

"Think about it, you've had mood swings, nausea, depression, loss of libido and sore boobs. Sounds like cranky pregnant lady syndrome to me."

"Oi, careful boyo. I may be feeling ill but I am quite capable of kicking your ass." Kate said dryly, poking the Writer in the stomach.

"I'm being serious," Rick told her, sincerity buring his deep blue orbs. "Meredith was the same before she discovered we were expecting Alexis, though her mood swings were worse than yours. She went from saint to Satan in a matter of seconds early on. And she had the worst morning sickness, once she got so dehydrated that I had to take her to hospital and she was kept in for two days on intravenous fluids. I think she had the same problem Jenny does right now."

"Well, I'm not that bad," Kate replied, carefully getting to her feet. "Throwing up just now is the worst I've felt in ages."

"Every pregnant woman is different, Tulip. You might be one of the lucky ones that hardly have any side effects," Rick informed her as he got to his feet and pulled her close. "Please go to the doctor tomorrow and get a blood test, alright? For me? For both of us? Even if it's just to prove me wrong?"

"Alright, I promise," Kate relented, running her fingers through his sodden chest hair. "Come with me?"

"Always."

"When we're finished here, I'll ring the surgery. Its open late on Thursdays."

Kate and Rick spent half an hour in the shower just standing under the steaming hot water in each others arms, then when they were both heavily pruned they got out and made their way back downstairs towels wrapped around their bodies.

"I'm so sorry for barfing on you Rick, _god!_" Kate exclaimed as they walked past the office.

"It doesn't matter, I know it's not something you could've have controlled," Rick assured his worried wife. "When you've had kids, being barfed on is not the grossest thing that can ever happen to you. Alexis got gastroenteritis when she was two and for two weeks straight I was barfed on and pooped on. After that nothing fazes me."

"Well trust me, I'm not going to do that to you," Kate joked. "When I see my doctor tomorrow, I'll ask for some medicine to keep the nausea at bay. That's the only thing I have an issue with; I can deal with the headaches and physical exhaustion."

"If it keeps up tomorrow, I'm going to Gates and getting her to put you on sick leave for a few days," Rick supplied. "The way you've been feeling the last few weeks can only be helped by decent bed rest and you have to admit since you went back to work that you've been pulling eight to twelve hour days. That can't have been helping."

"You've been doing the same hours too."

"Yeah, well I'm your partner. It wouldn't be a good look if I left you behind to deal with all the paperwork, would it?" Rick said going to the dresser and pulling a pair of pyjamas from one of the drawers. "Though if you _are_ pregnant, I will make you work hours shorter. Running yourself down is not going to help you if you're baking a new Castle. Exhausting yourself doesn't help now."

Kate's face lit up and she collapsed into a fit of hysterical giggles.

"What's so funny?" Rick asked in confusion.

"You said 'baking a new Castle,'" Kate repeated, accepting the pyjamas from him. "That's a funny phrase '_baking a new Castle_'

"Well you could be," Rick repeated, watching her slip into her pyjama bottoms. "Bun in the oven, baking a new Castle….they're called euphemisms, _Mrs Castle_."

Kate snuggled under the covers and rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware of the nuances of the English language, Rick," she said dryly. "I can't help it, being married to a grammar and punctuation nazi and all."

"_Pfft__,_ I am not a grammar and punctuation nazi," Rick replied, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her clammy forehead. "Now you ring your doctor and I'm going to go and fix myself some dinner. Let me know if you change your mind and want anything, alright?"

"I love you Rick."

"Love you too, Tulip."

* * *

The following morning Rick and Kate left the loft a little earlier than usual and made their way into midtown for Kate's doctor's appointment. They arrived at the clinic shortly after eight thirty. Kate's face the pure expression of nervousness.

"You'll be _fine_," Rick assured her once the female detective had checked in and sat down opposite the reception desk. "You look like you're waiting for a root canal."

"I'm just nervous, Rick," Kate replied in a low tone. "I want so much to start a family and if I am pregnant, it'll be the most life changing thing that's ever happened to me, even over what happened to Mom. I'll _we'll_ be responsible for another human being and that's a monstrous task."

"When you do it on your own, yes. It is, but when there's two like there will be for us-it'll be less so," Rick assured his worried wife. "We pick who takes the parental leave or we do it half and half-one of us can get up in the middle of the night while the other stays in bed and so on. I had to do all that on my own with Alexis, I _know_ it'll be easier when I've got you and vice versa."

Kate flashed the writer a nervous smile. "God, imagine if I am pregnant," she expressed. "How are we going to tell the others? Lanie's screams would be so loud that tribes in the deepest pits of the Amazonian forest would hear her and Maddie would just go 'Ohmigod _real_ Castle babies!' then there's the paparazzi. There's no way we'd be able to keep it quiet."

"We will until you started showing, by then you'll have had enough time to get used to the idea," Rick countered. "Look at all the fuss they made when we got married. You handled that on your ear. You'll be able to handle them making a fuss of you doing what millions of women a day all around the world do every day. You're made of tough stuff, Tulip."

A little after quarter to nine a young woman dressed in a loud tye dyed shirt emerged from an examination room a clipboard in her hand.

"Kate Castle?" she called.

"That's me," Kate said to Rick as she got to her feet. "Back in a bit."

Kate slung her handbag over her shoulder and made her way across the waiting room, going through a door upon which hung a '_Dr Vanessa Black P.H.D_" sign.

"Come in come in," Dr Black piped cheerfully, shutting the door behind Kate. "How have you been? Haven't seen you in a long while, Kate. How's married life treating you?"

Kate beamed. "Oh it's _great_," she enthused. "It's pretty much perfect when you marry the love of your life."

"That's great! And how's your Dad?" Dr Black enquired, taking a seat behind her desk and tapping away at the keyboard in front of the computer monitor.

"Oh Dad's great," Kate replied, setting her handbag on the floor. "Working hard, playing golf on the weekend. You know, keeping busy."

"Oh that's "terrific, well tell him I say hi. I haven't seen him in a while either."

"Dad's healthy as a horse. He doesn't need to visit a doctor," Kate replied with a chuckle. "But I'll let him know you say hi."

"Good good, so what can I do for you today? I take it you haven't come in just for a chat."

"No, I haven't," Kate replied. "The last few weeks I've been feeling really really crummy. I've been off colour since Rick and I returned from our Honeymoon but I've been feeling definitely ill for the last six weeks. I'm depressed all the time, physically exhausted beyond what I've experienced before and my mood swings are ridiculous. I go from happy to 'white hot rage angry' in minutes. I have a nonexistent libido. I've thrown up on the job twice and last night I threw up four times, once rather spectacularly all over Rick."

"When did the nausea and vomiting start?"

"A week after we returned from our honeymoon, Rick and I attended a scene and without warning I vomited,' Kate replied. "I've been headachy and fevery a lot too. I've had a quilt, three blankets and the electric blanket on high at night and poor Rick has been sweating like a pig with just a sheet on. He slept on the couch two nights ago because it was too hot for him to sleep in the bed."

"Have you been taking anything?" Dr Black asked as she furiously typed away on the keyboard. "Tylenol, Advil any other over the counter remedies?"

"I've taken some Excedrin for the headaches and they work and some organic ginger pills my best friend an M.E got for me." Kate replied.

"Are you constantly ill or does the sickness you're feeling come and go?"

"The last couple of days it's been constant but prior to that-it's been in waves thought ever so sightly getting worse." Kate replied. "And for the last two days my breasts have been sore too. Last night they were so sore it hurt when Rick touched them and it's a bit uncomfortable wearing a bra today."

"Hmmm _interesting__,_ have you noticed any weight gain or fluid retention?' Dr Black asked. "Or any cravings for food? Either what you normally eat or weird stuff like marmite and nutella sandwiches?"

Kate screwed up her nose. "Yuck no," she said. "I've had an increased appetite but I'm not craving anything weird or even normal, I'm just eating more. I've been wearing tights and leggings the last few weeks because my work pants don't fit me anymore."

"Have you been sticking to your usual exercise regime?"

"Not in the last couple of weeks. I've been too tired," Kate replied making a face. "Usually I'm in the gym with Rick, Kevin or Javi every day, but lately I've been too tired Before that I was running three or four miles a day or boxing for half an hour."

"Are you taking any naps during the day?"

"No but I've felt like it," Kate returned. "It's a bit hard to find the opportunity to have a nap in the middle of a police station. That's why I've been so exhausted when I get home. I literally eat about six then go straight to bed and sleep for nine or ten hours. I haven't slept that well since I was a child."

"Speaking of children, what's the possibility of you being pregnant?" Dr Black asked, pushing back from her desk and reaching for her stethoscope. "What's your cycle like, have you been cycling normally?"

"No, I haven't since a couple of weeks before the wedding," Kate replied as the female physician pressed the end of her stethoscope to her chest. "I've never cycled properly. Since I've come back on the job following the honeymoon it's been high stress and when I'm stressed I don't cycle. But I could be pregnant, I stopped taking the pill just before the wedding."

"Are you trying for a family?" Dr Black asked moving the pad of the stethoscope around Kate's chest.

"Not particularly since we got home from our honeymoon, my libido has evaporated," Kate replied. "But up until then, we weren't using any protection."

"Uh huh, well from what you've told me. I think it's a definite possibility you might be pregnant," Dr Black went on, reaching for the blood pressure monitor. "Nausea, mood swings, sore breasts and increased appetite are definite signs of pregnancy but you could just have a mucked up cycle because the stress of your work. If you've been stressed enough in the past to stop cycling it could be happening now. I'll draw some blood and have it sent off for testing just to make sure."

Kate winced as the cuff around her bicep tightened uncomfortably. "When will I get the results?" she asked.

"In three or four days, but I'll try and hurry up the path lab if you're particularly anxious," Dr Black replied. "Well your blood pressure is normal so you definitely don't have hypertension. I'll write you a script for some anti-emetics to keep the nausea at bay but at least for the time being rest when you can and drink plenty of fluids, alright? You may have become rather dehydrated even from the little vomiting you've experienced."

"That's the one thing I want to fix, I have the feeling like I'm about to barf," Kate replied making a face as Dr Black began preparing to draw a vial of her blood. "And unlike when you're hung over, I didn't feel any better once I had been ill."

"Yeah that's one of the many things that suck about morning sickness," the medic replied as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "If you are in fact pregnant, which I think you are. Just pull up your left sleeve for me there."

"Yeah, Rick thinks I am too," Kate replied, wincing slightly as the needle entered the vein in the crook of her left elbow. "I don't know what to think or _feel__._ I've never been pregnant before and I don't recall ever talking to my own Mom about what it was like to be pregnant."

"And that's why we're doing _this_," Dr Black said as the dark claret of Kate's blood filled up a plastic vial. "There's a hormone that only pregnant women secrete so if that's present in your test results, I'll refer you to a good OB/GYN friend of mine and you can start seeing him for more specialised care."

"Should I start taking folate again?" Kate inquired. "Ï was taking it but since I've been feeling ill, I've stopped."

"You can if you like, it's certainly not going to hurt," Dr Black replied drawing a second vial of blood. "Just speak to a pharmacist about the best type for your situation and he or she will be able to point you in the right direction."

"I can do that."

Kate emerged from the examination room and several moments later and immediately caught Rick's eye who immediately abandoned his game of Angry Birds.

"Hey how you doin'?" he asked in concern as Kate signed some papers at the reception desk.

"I'm not dying," the female detective replied with a chuckle as the capped her pen and gave it back to the receptionist. "I'll tell you outside"

Kate pulled on her jacket and did up the buttons before making her way outside her fingers laced through Rick's.

"_Well?_ The Writer asked expectantly as they strode along the bustling street back to where Kate had parked her SUV.

"Well I told Vanessa how I'd been feeling since we got back from out honeymoon and how my appetite, sex drive and physical energy level were all over the place and she thinks it's a definite possibility I'm pregnant," Kate informed her eager husband. "The symptoms I told her that I'd been experiencing-told her I'm likely to be expecting. I want to go to that pharmacy by the precinct and get this script she gave me filled out before I start the day, if I start barfing up at work again, rumours are going to spread and I'd rather keep that news, or the possibility of that news between us for the time being."

Rick's face burst into the widest grin Kate had seen since their wedding day in the Hamptons, three and a half months previously.

"So did you have a blood test?" he asked.

"Yeah, I should get the results on Tuesday or Wednesday. Vanessa said she would ring me personally and get me to come in to hear the results," Kate supplied. "In the meantime she just said to rest as much as I can, take in plenty of fluids and if I wanted-start taking folic acid again."

Rick's grin widened further making his cheeks hurt. "Just promise me when the results come back that you're definitely baking a new Castle, I can take out a full page ad in the Times proclaiming my incredible virility," he pleaded with a snort of laughter. "_Please?_ I want the world to know what a great job I did of getting you pregnant."

"_No_," Kate said firmly as they reached her car. "If the results come back that I am as you put it 'baking a new Castle' I'll let our closest friends and family know and that's it til I start showing. Well, I'll have to tell Gates, there are rules about what duties pregnant officers can execute. The public can find out when I start showing. _Then_ when the rumours get too obvious, you can make a furtive announcement, alright? No 'whoo hoo look at me I got meh woman preeeeeeeegant!' okay?"

Rick roared with laughter at Kate's southern accent.

"So will a compressed version of '_Whoo hoo loooook at meh I get meh womaaan preeeeeegnant!_" on Twitter be alright?" he asked with a chuckle as Kate started the engine.

"Yes, I reckon I could handle a small Twitter announcement," Kate replied with a giggle as the Writer started dancing in his seat. "Behave yourself, Writer Man. We're still in public."

"So sue me I'm happy," Rick replied with a chuckle. "If you're not pregnant, I want to try again. I love the whole baby making process."

"Oh, you _would _say that!"

* * *

A/N2: Reviews feed the beast!


	10. Confirmation

A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 17th Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'Confirmation' if that doesn't tell you what the chapter is about I don't know what will ha ha!

Incidentally chapters 6-12 have disappeared from the chapter drop down list and I have no idea why, could you lovely readers please have a look from your end of cyber space and see if that's the case for you? If it is how do I rectify it? I'm a total technological retard and always plays silly buggers so I have no idea to fix it!

HALP!

* * *

It was a hell of a day for Rick and Kate and every partnership in the bullpen. The teams were out on the field attending crime scenes and questioning victims families or suspects, in the precinct sewing up evidence for the District Attorney or questioning suspects for cases that were just new. When he wasn't training for Dancing with the Stars with Anastasia, Rick worked like a dog trawling over paperwork and indexing them for Kate, Ryan and Esposito something that amused Esposito greatly.

"Bro...ease up, if you work any harder you'll start getting the rep of an ass kisser," the Latino detective said with a chuckle, smacking his friend over the head with a manila folder. "Even I didn't work this hard when I first joined."

"Yeah because you're a lazy ass," Ryan piped up as a grin spread across his face.

"Espo, be nice." Kate scolded her friend affectionately.

"Ah I'm just razzin' up our boy, its tradition Mrs Castle!" the Latino detective declared with a snort of laughter. "Don't worry, I'm not going to push it. I know you two are fully capable of pawning my ass in the gym."

"Good boy, you're learning," Rick said with a grin giving Ryan a wink. "We'll make a detective out of you yet, Esposito. Stick with us and you too may one day make an arrest."

Kate and Ryan threw back their heads and roared with laughter.

"_Smartass_," Esposito grumbled as Kate's iPhone rang loudly. "You got me this time bro but I have a long memory, I _will_ get you back."

"I have no doubt about that," Rick said, distractedly watching Kate get up and walk into the break room her iPhone pressed to her ear. "Guys...give me a sec, will ya?"

And with that Rick got up and went into the break room leaving Ryan and Esposito behind him. Kate saw his approach and pressed a finger to her lips.

"I can come right now `Ness I'll just have to pack things up here. Yeah, I'll bring Rick with me. Sure thing, see you in an hour."

And with that Kate ended the call pocketing her iPhone her brow furrowed in concern.

"The test results are in?" Rick enquired, pulling the female detective into his embrace.

"Yeah and now that they are, I can't help but worry." Kate moaned.

"Tulip, there's nothing to worry about," Rick assured his worried wife. "If you're not pregnant, we'll keep on trying."

Kate couldn't help it and smiled.

"We can, but I really, _really_ want to get pregnant the first time we tried. Y'know?" she said. "Mom and Dad tried for eight years to have a baby before I came along and it would kill me if that happened to us."

"If it does, we'll deal with it," Rick said patiently. "And have fun making whoopee in the meantime. "And I don't think we'll have to wait as long as your parents did. I personally think you _are_ pregnant which means we're both ridiculously fertile."

Kate smiled. "You're confident." She commented.

Rick grinned. "Of course I am," he said cockily. "I have strong swimmers."

Kate rolled her eyes and smacked him on the chest. "What a way to romanticize things, Special Agent Rogers," she said dryly. "Modesty really is your strong suit, isn't it?"

"Ha!"

* * *

Half an hour later both Rick and Kate left the precinct and made their way to Kate's doctor. The female detective was ushered into Vanessa's office almost as soon as she arrived and Rick remained out in the waiting room playing Angry Birds but not totally concentrating on the usually engrossing game.

"So...how have you been feeling?" the medic asked Kate once the office door was shut behind the pair.

"Oh, _so_ much better!" Kate exclaimed. "Those pills you gave me worked almost instantly and I'm back to normal now. I'm no longer feeling depressed, fevery or nauseous and my appetite has returned with a vengeance, still working on the libido but I'm more in the mood now after taking those pills you prescribed."

"That's great, I know the anti-emetics would start you on the path to wellness," Dr Black informed her patient. "Hopefully after getting some proper nutrition into you, the libido will return and you can resume your sex life again."

Kate blushed. "I hope so," she replied, her cheeks reddening slightly. "I haven't felt like doing anything remotely sexual for weeks now."

"That'll change, you're already beginning to return to normal. Alright, you ready to hear these results?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well, you're a little low on iron which explained a little of the fatigue you were experiencing so increase your red meat consumption and take a broad spectrum multivitamin and that ought to rectify itself," Dr Black began. "You don't have any infection or virus in your system. But there's only one result you're interested in, isn't there?"

"You got it," Kate replied with a nervous little smile. "Am I pregnant?"

Dr Black smiled. "You are," she revealed with a grin. "That explains all your nausea and general blahness. It was morning sickness."

Kate's insides leapt with joy and she clapped her hands together joyfully. "_Really?_" she exclaimed. "I'm really pregnant?"

"Yup, you are. Here's the card for Oliver Lehman, an OB/GYN friend of mine who has offices in SoHo and practices mainly out of Lennox Hill. I think he's the best in the business."

Kate took the card and tucked it inside her jacket pocket. "Thanks," she said her face starting to hurt from the effort of smiling. "Wow."

Dr Black smiled "Come back to me if your morning sickness returns but for the time being your healthcare will be in the hands of Olly," she said. "Ring him tomorrow and take the first appointment he has available, no doubt he'll want to book you in for a sonogram and create a birth plan for your due date. Congratulations. I wish you all the best. You _and_ Rick."

"Thanks so much," Kate replied. "Really."

"No problem, just bring your bub back for a visit when he or she is born, huh? I love freshly hatched newborns."

Kate laughed. "I promise."

Kate left the examination room a moment later, her face unreadable to Rick as she went to the counter and signed some papers.

"_Well?_" he asked expectantly.

"Well what?" Kate asked, the faintest smile playing upon her lips.

"You know what."

"I'll let you know in the car." Kate continued, slinging her handbag over her shoulder and holding her hand out to his. "Come on."

It took all of Kate's self control not to break into the stupidest of smiles on the journey but she finally loosened her self control a little once she and Rick were inside her SUV.

"_Weeeell?_" Rick asked again drawing out the word this time.

Wordlessly Kate took his left hand and squeezed it before placing it low on her abdomen.

Instantly Rick knew and lit up like Broadway. "Are you _serious?_" he squealed excitedly. "You're pregnant? We're having a baby?"

Kate nodded her green eyes welling with tears. "We're having a baby." she echoed.

Rick gave a little fist pump then grasped Kate's head in his hands and kissed her with so much heat and passion the female detective was left light headed. "This is the best, _best_ news!" the Writer declared happily, his own baby blues welling with tears. "I love you so _so_ much, Tulip. We've _got_ to tell everyone!"

"Can we keep this between ourselves til I've had my first appointment with the OB/GYN Vanessa referred me to?" Kate asked softly. "Just for a little while. I'm going to ring in the morning and get the earliest appointment I can."

"You don't want to let everyone know straight away?" Rick asked, his face falling slightly.

"Of course I want to tell everyone straight away but I want to make sure everything is going as it should be and our baby is healthy first," Kate said. "You understand, don't you? After we tell everyone, _everyone_ is going to know. At least for a little while I'd like to keep this between us."

Rick pressed his forehead against Kate's and kissed her on the bridge of her nose. "I understand," he murmured. "But there is one person we're going to have to tell right away though."

"Who?" Kate inquired as she leaned forward to start the engine.

"Gates, she _has_ to know. You know there are rules about pregnant officers, Kate, especially after the first trimester. I know after the first four months, you're not going to be able to be on active duty and if you're as pregnant as I think you are...you're nearing that."

"And how pregnant do you think I am?" Kate asked as she started the car.

"Well by your own admission, you've been feeling off colour since we got him from out honeymoon and definitely crummy for two months. I think you're at least two months pregnant. Possibly three, which mean I got you pregnant on our wedding night."

"And there goes the famous Richard Castle, preening like a peacock," Kate said dryly pulling out into the traffic. "I _know_ I have to tell Gates but I don't really want to, I want to stay on active duty as long as possible."

"I know you do, look Gates is a reasonable woman. She knows what its like to be a pregnant woman on the job, she'll let you stay on active duty for as long as it's possible but you're going to have to face facts - eventually it's going to be too dangerous for you to put on a vest and participate in a take down. That's when you'll have to stick to administrative duty and precinct work. You know this and I know if anything happened, you'd blame yourself and I don't want that to happen."

"You know me too well."

"Tulip, you're my _wife__._ I'm supposed to know you well," Rick answered in amusement, putting his left hand on her stomach and rubbing it affectionately. "I want our baby to be safe, alright? I'm just looking out for you both."

"I know, I just hate not being out there on the job not being _active__,_ y'know?" Kate went on smiling as he rubbed her belly. "You're really liking the belly rubbing, aren't you?"

"Oh, you bet sweetheart. Wait til you get big enough to start showing, my hands will be on your belly more than your own. Meredith didn't let me touch her stomach when she was pregnant with Alexis, so I want to do what I couldn't do then, _now_. I hear there is nothing more awesome for a man to feel than his baby moving. And I have been reliably informed it's the best thing for a woman to feel too. As little maternal instinct Meredith had, the one thing she has been honest about is that she felt the closest to Alexis the first time she kicked. And mother told me a few years ago one of the most bonding spiritual things for a woman to feel is your baby kick. I really want you to experience all that."

"It'll come in time; he or she is only the size of a golf ball at the moment probably smaller it's going to be a while before either of us feels anything." Kate replied with a smile.

Rick grinned stupidly. "I'm looking forward to buying all the stuff we're going to need," he confessed blushing slightly. "The onesies, strollers, cot, elephant and kitten motifs the-"

"Elephant and kitten motifs?" Kate inquired with a giggle.

"That's what Alexis had," Rick revealed with a reminiscent smile. "She had those up til she was two then it was all fairies and My Little Pony posters, then when she started school it was Pokémon and Powerpuff Girls. Then as she became a teenager it was more music and movie posters. I don't know what to do if we have a boy. Just about all my relatives are girls and of the few boys in the family, I wasn't around them much growing up."

"Well you were a boy once," Kate began with a grin. "Some say you still are, what were you into? Trucks, ball sports, Lego building blocks...?"

"Oh all the usual guy stuff, I was mad keen on baseball right from when I started to walk. I played little league and even up to my senior year of high school," Rick revealed. "Mother's brother, my Uncle Alex from where I got my middle name was the closest thing to a father figure growing up and he got me into baseball. And when Alexis came along I got her into the game too. You know I signed her up as a member of the Yankees when she was six months old? Every year I've kept that up."

"Well you can do the same with this one." Kate replied with a smile briefly covering his hand on her stomach with one of her own. "How about we celebrate tonight? We haven't had pizza for a while and I'm kinds craving hot pepperoni."

"Sounds _great_."

Rick and Kate arrived back at the loft twenty minutes later and the Writer was quickly on the phone ordering their favourite pizza from their favourite pizza parlour. Kate changed into a baggy NYPD shirt and yoga tights and immediately flopped onto the bed with a loud sigh.

"You okay?" Rick asked pulling his shirt off and throwing it into the laundry basket.

Kate grinned. "I'm pregnant," She said gleefully hugging her pillow. "I'm pregnant! I'm going to be a Mommy!"

Rick sat down on the bed next to the female detective and embraced her.

"_I'm pregnant I'm pregnant I' pregnant I'm pregnant I'm pregnaaaaaaaaaaant!_" Kate chanted her voice muffled by Rick's neck.

"Yeah, I know you are," Rick said happily pulling back and looking into Kate's tear filled green orbs. "Great, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I just wish Mom was here to see this part of my life, y'know?" Kate said with a sniffle. "She told me not long before she died that she was looking forward to the day I made her a grandma and now I'm pregnant and she's not here."

"We can make a trip to Woodlawn tomorrow and tell her anyway...if you like," Rick offered, wiping away the tear that ran down her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Just you, me and your Mom. We can tell her before we tell anyone else, `kay?"

Kate sniffed. "You don't mind?" she asked.

"Of course not, I wouldn't have offered if I did. Kate, your Mom is my mother-in-law, I may not have ever met her but I want her to know we're having a baby. We can head out in the morning and spend some time with her then go out for coffee and lunch."

Kate made a face. "I never ever thought I'd say this...but I've lost my taste for coffee," she told her husband, scrunching her nose. "Right now, the thought turns my stomach."

"How about your usual, but in decaf or your favourite strawberry shake?" Rick suggested. "I make a pretty mean strawberry shake, you know."

"Can you make me one now?" Kate asked hopefully. "It'll be a little while before our pizza is here and I feel like a bit of a snack."

Rick pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Sure thing," he said, pressing a hand to her stomach. "You look particularly sexy today, Mrs Castle."

Kate smiled her stomach flip flopping pleasantly. "Likewise Mr Castle," She replied. _He never failed to make her feel like a love struck teenager. _"Maybe tonight when we go to bed, we can have out own little 'celebration.' I'm kinda feeling like a horny pregnant lady."

Rick's baby blue eyes sparkled mischievously. "_I look forward to that_," he whispered, lowering his lips to her neck and nibbling upon her porcelain skin. "But strawberry shakes here first, huh?"

"_Yum._"

* * *

The following day Rick and Kate left the loft early and made the journey to Woodlawn Cemetery to visit Johanna's grave. Kate bought a posy of orchids and daffodils at the florists shop and Rick bought his usual three hundred Violets before the pair made their way to Johanna's grave.

"You know, you don't have to buy three hundred Violets every visit," Kate teased as they arrived at the elegant granite grave stone. "You're sweet with Mom, you don't have to suck up any more."

"I know, but it's kinda become my own tradition for when we come here," Rick confessed as he began laying out the bright purple blooms. "Maybe next time we come I'll bring some actual bulbs and plant them around the site so there's always flowers here even when we're not."

Kate smiled. "Let's come back in a couple of weeks and do that," she said softly, placing the daffodil and orchid posy she was carrying at the head of her mother's grave.

"Sounds good, you spend time with your mom, alright?" Rick supplied, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll wait."

"Thanks."

Rick made his way over to a nearby park bench and sat down and Kate crouched by her Mother's grave a lump forming in the back of her throat.

"Hey Mom," she said her voice coming out with a crack. "I've got some news, I only found out yesterday. I'm pregnant. I'm going to be a Mommy. I'm so _so_ happy, Rick is over the moon. Since I got the confirmation yesterday, he hasn't been able to stop rubbing my belly. He's looking forward to being a Dad again..."

Kate's tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks.

"You're the first one we've told, Mom," she choked out, tracing the letters on the gravestone with her fingertips. "Not even Dad knows. Rick and I are going to wait til my first specialist appointment and ultrasound til we tell everyone. I always thought I'd have trouble getting pregnant like you did, but it happened for me and Rick when we weren't even trying. Three and a half months we've been married and I'm going to have a belly the size of a house by Christmas. Rick has re-assured me he doesn't care if I get fat and cranky or send him out in the middle of the night for some weird foodstuff, he'll love me and our baby even more than he does now. Isn't he sweet Mom? God I wish I had met him years ago, we've wasted so much time when we could have been together making babies earlier, god I'm rambling on aren't I? I promise to come again at Christmas time and again when our baby is born. I want him or her to meet their Grandma..."

Kate wiped at her eyes and sat back on the strip of grass between Johanna's grave and the headstone of a 'Cecil Waters.'

"My life is _finally_ going where it should be, Mom," she said after taking several minutes to compose herself. "I found and arrested the bastards who took you from Dad and I, with Rick and the FBI's help then I got married to the most _wonderful_ man who worships the ground I walk on, and now I'm pregnant and expecting a baby. Lanie and Javi _finally_ got married and I reckon going by the grin Espo has on his face upon arriving at the precinct every morning, they're trying for a baby of their own. And Jenny and Kevin are expecting their first. They're all going to squeal when Rick and I tell them the news. Maddie is too, I think I've still got hearing problems from her reaction to me telling her Rick proposed."

Kate paused for a moment.

"My life is perfect now Mom and I think I have what you and Dad had," Kate continued. "Rick and I are moving to the suburbs in a few weeks once the renovations on our house are completed and that's where we're going to bring our baby up. We're going to get a dog and I promised Rick he could have a hammock on the back porch to write his next best seller in. My job is ticking along and Gates has made moves to have me promoted to Sergeant which would mean I'd be the third in command of the twelfth homicide department and would take over if she or Trevor was on leave. Rick's still with the FBI and is a huge asset to the department. Though when our baby is born, he's set on being a stay at home Dad like he was with Alexis. He's going to have competition there. After that letter from Royce, I've discovered putting the job in front of your heart is the wrong thing to do and I want to revel in being a Mom, just like you did. I'll always be a cop but I don't want to miss out on my son or daughter growing up."

Kate wiped her eyes and got to her feet. "_I love you and miss you so much Mom,_" she whispered laying a hand on the ever so slight swell of her belly. "And I'll make sure my baby grows up knowing what an awesome person you were and how much you love them even though you're not here anymore. I'll be back in a couple of weeks alright? See you soon."

Kate ran her fingers over her mother's grave again then made her way over to Rick who had been watching her closely the entire time.

"Hey how are you feeling?" he asked softly, getting up and wrapping his muscular arms around her.

"Bit down but I'll be alright," Kate replied, leaning into his warm bulk and inhaling the musky bittersweet scent of his cologne. "I told Mom all about us getting married and having a baby and now Lanie and Javi got married and Kevin and Jenny are expecting their own family and I told her how my life mirrored what she and Dad had. They were the pure definition of soul mates, Rick and right from when I was a little girl when I first began to understand what true love was-I wanted someone to love me like Dad loved Mom. And finally I have and because of that my life is perfect."

"Sounds like you had a real heart to heart." Rick commented, rubbing her back with his hands.

"Yeah we did," Kate replied. "I told her all about you helping me to find her killer with the help of your friends in the feds. Then I told her about Gates wanting me to go up to Sergeant and how I you wanted to be a stay at home Dad when our baby is born and how I wanted to be a stay at home Mom too. I always pour my guts out when I come to visit Mom, it's very cathartic. And I finished off by promising her that we'd come back here when our son or daughter is born and I would tell them how awesome their grandma is and how much she loves them even though she's not here anymore."

Rick felt hot tears prick at his eyes as Kate revealed her conversation and he hugged her tightly. "I promise as soon as you're allowed to after giving birth, we'll bring our baby here alright?" he said thickly, stroking her hair in a rhythmic fashion.

"Sounds good," Kate replied, looking into his shining blue eyes. "Now, how about we go and get that shake you promised me? I'm kinda craving ice cream right now."

"Sounds good let's go."

* * *

Two days later Kate pulled Rick aside at the precinct under the pretence of making some coffee for their team.

"I've just got off the phone to the OB/GYN Vanessa referred me to." she told her husband as she poured milk into the jug.

Rick lit up. "Yeah?" He said eagerly. "And?"

"They want me to have a sonogram before I see them so I rang the clinic they recommended and I'm booked in tomorrow afternoon. Come with me?"

Rick grinned stupidly, every one of his pearly whites showing.

"Of course I'll come with you!" he exclaimed. "When are you going to tell Gates?"

"After my appointment with the specialist on Thursday," Kate replied with a smile as she started to texture the milk. "At the end of shift I'm going to ask Gates for the afternoon off tomorrow and Thursday, then I thought maybe Saturday night we could have everyone over Kevin, Jenny, Lanie, Javi, Dad, Martha and Alexis and break the news to them...what d'you think?"

Rick grinned again. "Sounds good," he said excitedly, pouring vanilla syrup into Kate's mug. "We can throw a big dinner party, huh?"

"I was thinking along those lines yes."

"I'm planning already."

* * *

A/N2: Just a note, earlier in the Revelations series when I wrote a scene depicting Rick and Kate visiting Johanna's grave I had Rick decorating the headstone with Jonquils. I wrote that scene before Always when Andrew Marlowe revealed to the fandom Johanna's real birth date, prior to this I was guessing when she was born. With subsequent research I have discovered the February birth flower is the Violet so from now on when Caskett visit Johanna's grave Rick will be laying down Violets not Jonquils.

And remember reviews feed the beast!


	11. Verdict

**A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 18th Chapter of Dancing With Death I've titled 'Verdict' I'm going to dispense with the usual chapter preamble and address the subject of the missing chapters. I cannot find ANY trace of them within the database or on my laptop or any of the removable storage I have. My only hope is getting them back from my beta reader. If I can't do it that way there's just going to have to be a gap as I can't remember what was in the gap. If any of you out there knows what was in that gap I'd really really appreciate a reminder via PM. I do hope the gap hasn't detracted too much from the whole storyline, I don't know why they went missing and would love any info that would allow me to recover them.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter, I enjoyed writing it!**

* * *

Keeping her 'condition' under wraps was proving the hardest thing Kate had ever done. "This is killing me!" Kate groaned one night after picking Rick up from one of his training sessions with Anastasia.

"What is?" The Special Agent asked wincing in pain as his overworked muscles began to cool and tighten.

"Not telling everyone out news!" Kate exclaimed. "_All day_ I've wanted to jump up on my desk and announce to the bullpen that I'm pregnant, but I know I can't til the sonogram tomorrow morning. Javi knows something's up and Lanie asked me why I was so buzzed at lunch today. And I reckon Gates knows something's up because she kept asking me if I was alright after you left for your training session today. She can tell I'm lying to her, I know she can."

"Let's tell Gates after the scan tomorrow morning," Rick suggested. "You said you wanted to wait til after the first scan before you told anyone. Out of everyone we're going to tell, she has to be the first one because soon you're going to be restricted to administrative duty."

Kate made a face. "I hate desk duty," she grumped. "People on admin leave always get dumped with everyone else's work."

"Well right from the get go let it be known you're not a paperwork dump and won't fly with that crap," Rick suggested. "You're assertive by nature; just help with your team's paperwork and no one else's. I can help you, that's mainly what I do as your partner anyway."

"But once I go on admin duty, you'll have to do more field work which means I'll have to do the paperwork," Kate pointed out as she pressed down the clutch and shifted gears.

"I'll help however I can," Rick promised his wife. "It's only until the end of 'Dancing with the Stars' that I'll be busy for, at the end of November I'm free as a bird and I'll be able to chip in at the precinct more, though Frank is trying to convince me to go back to NYU and get my PHD in Sociology and Criminology. If I do that it'll be another twelve months in college. I haven't studied anything for twenty years. I don't know if I could do that, write a book and put in decent hours at the field office and the precinct. Any we'll have a baby by then so there's more time filled up."

"You could take some paternity leave and study," Kate pointed out. "You _could_ do it, Rick. You're very academically smart. Besides...if you did study, you'd be given time off in lieu of from the field office. It's in the FBI's best interest for you to get more qualifications so they're going to do what they can to help you do what you can. The NYPD is the same, they were with Karpowski, and she did a triple degree in psychology, law and Criminal Justice when she first entered the service. She had just finished her studies when I arrived at the twelfth."

"Karpowski's a doctor?" Rick exclaimed in surprise.

"Yup and has half the alphabet in qualifications after her name to prove it," Kate replied naturally. "She's the one I learned how to interrogate from. Javi, Kevin and I picked up a lot from her."

"Well you learn things every day," Rick said in surprise, wincing as a dull pain pulsed through his right shoulder. "_Ah!_"

"Are you alright?" Kate asked in concern as their neared the loft.

"Eh, I'm a bit sore," Rick confessed. "Anastasia was taking me though this complicated Rock 'n' Roll routine this morning and she tripped and started to fall, I managed to catch her but I think I've pulled a muscle in my shoulder."

"D'you want me to give you a massage when I get home?" Kate asked. "Or would a hot bath be better?"

"Both would be nice," the Special Agent replied with a tired smile. "I'm seriously exhausted. I'm more exhausted now than I am after a workout in the gym with you. I have never experienced this lack of energy before."

"Maybe you should take some time off from the precinct for a few days," Kate suggested. "Get some proper sleep. Lately after half a day at the precinct and six hours of training with Anastasia, you've come home and spent all night writing. You're going to have to give up one of those things or you're going to drop, obviously giving up dancing isn't and option and I don't see you giving up writing for anything so the only one left if the Precinct."

"But our part-" Rick began.

"Can survive you taking a few days off," Kate interrupted. "If I really need you're help, I'll ring. At least do it until you're a bit more rested. All your dance training sessions is taking a lot out of you, Rick. You've developed black bags under your eyes and I haven't seen you like that since just after you came out of hospital."

"You know I might actually take a few days off," Rick conceded. "It'll recharge the batteries I think."

A short time later the couple arrived back in TriBeCa and made their way up to the loft. Rick strode into the living area and dropped his sports bag on the coffee table; he then proceeded to flop onto the sofa with a loud groan.

"_I'm dyyyyyyying!_" He groaned, burying his face in the nearest cushion. "I am _so_ sore!"

Kate perched on the edge of the sofa and rubbed her husband's back with her left hand. "You are _not_ dying," she said in amusement. "You're a drama queen, Richard Edgar Castle."

"_Mmmfbutyouluffme,_" her husband returned in amusement, his voice muffled by the cushion. "_Mmm that feels niiiiice._"

Kate slid her hand under Rick's shirt and ran her carefully manicured nails down his spine, instantly his back arched and he leapt up with a howl of surprise. "_AHHHH KAAAATE!_" He yelped leaping around like he was treading on hot coals. "You _know_ that drives me insane!"

Kate fell back on the lounge and collapsed in a fit of laughter. "That got you up," she quipped in amusement. "Feel nice, did it?"

"Your nails are _insane_," Rick declared giving a huge shiver as the sensation of his wife's nails continued to run up and down his spine. "How d'you _DO_ that?"

"Do what?" Kate asked in amusement as she got to her feet and approached him.

"You know full well what!" Rick exclaimed twitching as his wife walked her right index and middle finger up his broad muscular chest.

"No I don't," Kate replied innocently, picking up his bag then lacing her fingers with his. "Come to the bedroom and I'll run the hot tub, okay? D'you want some wine?"

"Nah, I'm good," Rick replied shivering a final time. "You're a tease Katherine Houghton Castle and you ought to be ashamed of yourself."

"Yes Rick, I should be ashamed of myself," Kate replied dryly as she dropped her husband's bag on the bed and headed straight to the spacious bathroom. "So...how did training go today?"

"Anastasia wasn't kidding when she told me she would work me hard," Rick groaned. "We started work on the Argentine Tango, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, Paso Doble, Rock 'n' Roll and Jive routines today and tomorrow she wants to start on a Quickstep, Samba, Foxtrot and Freestyle. The woman's going to kill me, Kate. She's _feral__,_ there's no other word for it."

"That's eleven routines...are you going to have to do that many?" Kate asked in surprise. "The whole series isn't that long."

"I know that but Anastasia wants me to be prepared to perform any routine," Rick replied, leaning upon the frame of the bathroom and watching his wife turn on the taps. "Once the series is underway, we only have a week to learn a new routine-so her theory is 'if we learn as many as we can _now__,_ we'll be prepared for anything when we get given the 'dance card' each week'."

"Well that _does_ sound sensible," Kate pointed out as she added some lavender oil to the running water. "Be prepared."

"I agree...it is sensible but it's going to kill me, Kate. I haven't been this sore since I took horse riding lessons with Alexis when she was small," Rick replied with a heavy sigh. "Even then the feeling of having a horse between my legs after dismounting stopped after three weeks, I've been doing this for a month and I'm _still_ sore."

"You're not as bad as your first day of training," Kate informed him. "You were literally cramping back then."

"Well _yeaaaaah,_" Rick conceded. "I'm getting fitter but slowly, slower than I want to be. I'm getting old."

Kate adjusted the temperature of the water then strode over to her morose partner, cupping his face in her hands. "You are _not_ old," she informed him firmly, pressing her forehead to his and lightly kissing him on the lips. "You are the most young at heart childish person I have ever met."

"Is that a compliment?" Rick asked in amusement.

"You know it is," Kate replied, pecking him on the lips then striding through the bedroom and over to their enormous four poster bed and switching on the electric blanket. "Do we still have some Tiger Balm?"

"Yeah...in the bathroom vanity, I think."

"Good because I'm going to put some in the water, it'll be good to soak in it," Kate went on.

Rick sat on the edge of the bed and tiredly watched his wife bustle in and out of the bedroom, checking on the tub then returning back to the bedroom to turn the covers down.

"Time I think to get your clothes off," Kate said, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth and biting down slightly. "Can you manage on your own or would you like some help?"

"I might need a bit of help," Rick murmured, grinning as Kate pressed her lithe frame up against his and lowered her lips to his neck. "I'm_ very_ sore y'see."

"You know I don't believe that, don't you?" she shot back suckling upon his neck and unbuttoning his shirt slowly. "You're going to have to be more convincing than _that_."

Rick let out a long, low moan of desire as his wife slid her hands down his muscular chest and 'cupped' him. "That feels _goooooooooooood,_" he whispered as he felt himself harden as a result of her ministrations. "_Real good_."

Kate slipped the shirt over Rick's shoulders then dropped to her knees on the floor mat and helped her husband out of his trousers and boxers.

"I thought you weren't in the mood?" Rick groaned as Kate licked his length from base to tip. "I mean you haven't for a long time _ah!_"

"I feel better," Kate murmured as she continued to lave at his masculinity which was hardening with every passing second. "_Much _better. My medicine is working _Mmmmmmmmm_."

The vibration of his wife's vocalisation shot up his length and Rick's head dropped back as he felt himself disappear into the warm wet cavern of her mouth. "_You're going to __**kill**__ me!_" he heaved as she began undressing all the while keeping contact with his length. "_God__,__ I've missed this!_"

Kate momentarily sat on the floor of the bedroom to shimmy out of her trousers and panties before returning her attention to Rick's erection. He threaded his thick fingers through her golden brunette tresses and tugged on them as he felt her lips travel up and down his shaft. The female detective greedily slurped at him til he swelled so much she couldn't fit him in her mouth comfortably.

"Shit Kate, y'gotta stop or I'm gonna burst!" Rick groaned as she ran the tip of her tongue in a figure eight around his testicles never breaking eye contact with him. "Not yet sweetheart, not _NOW!_"

The Special Agent leapt in surprise as Kate sucked his scrotum into her mouth and bit down gently with her lip covered teeth. She grinned then released him and got to her feet running the tip of her tongue up his length, muscular abdomen and chest and to his neck where she sucked on the post surgery scar of his right collarbone.

"I swear when I eventually shuffle off this mortal coil, the C.O.D on my death certificate is going to be heart attack from spousal blowjo-_MMMPH!"_

Kate cut him off by seizing his lips with hers.

"You talk too much," she murmured shivering as he kneaded her backside with his hands. "Kiss me Rick."

Rick cupped Kate's delicate face in his hands and captured her lips with his, he pressed his tongue against her lips and she opened his mouth granting him access to plunder her mouth. He ran his right hand down Kate's side and pulled up her leg, pressing his erection into her thigh.

"_God__,__ I need you Kate,_" he whispered into her ear as he ground himself into her in and attempt to gain some sort of friction. "_I need to taste you, __**feel**__ you._"

Kate let out a squeal of surprise as her husband slipped two of his thick fingers into her core, palming her femininity and accelerating her arousal. She fell into his embrace and tipped her head to the side as he began attacking her neck. Within seconds he had her in a mindless pool of delirium, palming her centre and sucking on the nape of her neck.

"Tulip, I need you to stand up for me," Rick murmured after several minutes of furious touching and kissing. "Can you do that for me?"

"No...you've turned me into a pool of mush," Kate moaned, leaning heavily against him.

"Well I suppose I'm going to have to-"

Rick bent down slightly and with a grunt, grabbing Kate's hips and lifted her onto the bed. She giggled and wrapped her legs around her husband's hips as he pounced on her muscular frame, kissing her hard and slipping his fingers between her slick folds.

"Mmmm _muscles,_" she murmured grabbing his biceps and squeezing them appreciatively. "Me _likey_."

Rick let out a rumbling chuckle. "My biceps?" he questioned, his voice barely above a whisper. "They're my only body part you like?"

"Oh no, I like this _part_ much better," Kate purred reaching down and grasping his length. "If I touch it the right way, it swells. Y'see."

Rick jumped a little as his wife pumped him and ran the pad of her thumb over the head. "If you keep doing that, I'm going to finish much earlier than I'd like," he growled in her ear. "And I haven't had the chance to return the favour."

Kate's greenish brown eyes lit up. "Go ahead, Mr Castle," she encouraged. "Do whatever you want to me."

"Oh, I'll be doing that Detective, you can count on that."

And without another word the Special Agent dropped to his knees and immediately began pleasuring the woman before him. He grasped her legs in his large hands and began sucking on the skin of her inner thighs. Kate shivered upon contact and moaned as his stubble scratched along her skin causing a flush of arousal to wash over her. She flopped back on the covers and ran her fingers though his mussed up hair as he inched ever closer to her glistening core.

After not having any sexual contact with Kate since their honeymoon, Rick was finding it very hard not to seize his wife's lithe frame and take her hard, then and there on the bed til they were both exhausted. In an effort to suppress his impatience, he focused all his attention on pleasuring Kate sucking, biting and licking every inch of skin he could reach.

She moaned, whiled, squeaked, squealed and squirmed above him rolling her hips toward his mouth in an effort to feel _more_. "_Uuuuurrgh Riiiiiiiick!_" Kate groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and exhaling in a rush. "_Please_ don't stall. It's been _toooo_ long!"

"You want to come, huh?" Rick questioned using his thick fingers to part her wet folds.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" Kate exclaimed grabbing more of his hair and shoving his face into her core. "_Please_."

Usually one in favour of teasing and titillating his wife, his own level arousal turned his mind to getting her off as quick as possible. He spread her further and closed his mouth over her centre.

Kate arched off the bed and let out a guttural groan closing her fists in her husband's hair. "_Oh JEEZ!_" she hissed, clenching her teeth hard. "_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit!_"

Hearing his wife burst into a barrage of unladylike language increased Rick's arousal a hundredfold and he dove into pleasuring her with reckless abandon. He used the fingers of one hand to spread her femininity further apart and the other to plunder her depths slowly, hooking them inside her heat and pressing hard against her G-spot.

The female detective let out a noise akin to a tortured hyena and began rolling her hips into his face in time with his ministrations. "_Ughrickican'thandleanymrrrrrrrrrrrre!_" she groaned her voice coming out more like a guttural chant opposed to her usual light tone. "_NNNNNNNNGH!_"

Rick closed his lips around Kate's clit and flicked it with his tongue over and over and over til she came with a screaming screech of completion. The brunette arched her back like a gymnast then flopped back on the bed with a long drawn out groan. Rick leapt to his feet grabbed his wife by the waist then spun her around, entering her with one smooth move. Kate let out a yelp of surprise and barely had time too adjust to his thickness inside her before he reached around her slender frame, grabbed her breasts and started up a furious pace.

"_G-g've me s'me w'rnin'g,_" she groaned, grabbing the edge of the edge of the dresser, looking into the mirror as her husband took her from behind with unrestrained alacrity. "_Oh jeez Castle!_"

The renewed use of his surname unleashed a fresh wave of lust in Rick and he grabbed Kate's hips and slammed himself into her slick heat desperate to go deeper, further and harder than ever before. The force of this thrusting rocked the dresser and items began falling to the carpeted floor. Kate's watch first, then her handbag, followed by Rick's wallet and FBI identification with caught a bottle of Kate's body moisturiser sending both items into the little trash can by the bathroom door. The Special Agent and seasoned homicide detective didn't pay that any attention and continued one bumping, grinding and thrusting against each other, continuing toward the end of mindless bliss.

Every time Rick felt himself or Kate begin to peak he backed off. Kate did _not_ like this course of action and shot him a look of deep disgust in the mirror.

"_Not_ funny Castle!" she scolded using all her strength to squeeze his length knowing it would weaken his resolve. "_Oh gooooooooooood!_"

"I just want to make things last a little longer is all," the Writer replied in a soft whisper as he thrust into her languidly. "It's been a long time and I want to remember ever second."

"We can take time later," Kate insisted leaning into her husband's embrace as he kneaded her breasts rhythmically. "I want it hard and fast and _NOW_, fuck me Rick..._please._"

"Hard and fast huh?" Rick murmured as he reached down and circled Kate's nub with his fingers. "How hard and fast?"

"Make _everything_ fall off the dresser," Kate groaned, bracing herself on the dresser again. "I want _everythiiiing._"

That was it for Rick, Kate purring like a kitten was his downfall in the bedroom and switched him to overdrive, gathering her waist length hair into a loose ponytail with one hand and keeping the fingers of the other hand on her clit, he resumed the furious pace of his lovemaking. He withdrew almost totally then slammed back into her depths with a deep guttural growl.

Kate gripped the edge of the dresser and rode his length roughly determined to climax.

"Oh Jeez, Kate. I'm almost the-ere!' Rick groaned moments later as his thrusts became erratic. "Come with me, Tulip. I _can't_ hold back."

Kate couldn't have replied even if she had wanted to, she was so physically and mentally consumed with arousal vocalising anything but a guttural groan was impossible. She met each one of Rick's thrusts with one of her own and soon she couldn't handle it anymore, her world broke and she came with a shrieking squeal of completion.

"_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!_," she screeched as the Writer released into her with a roar. "_Ohhhhhhh gooooooooooood!_"

"_SHITSHITSHITSHIT!_," Rick heaved as he continued to pulse into his wife's slick heat. "_Oh Kate__,__ I love you so goddammed much...s-sweatheart..._"

Eventually their climaxes faded and Rick slumped against Kate's lithe frame, she collapsed over the dresser, both heaving for breath.

Kate reached back and threaded her fingers through his hair scratching his scalp with her nails. "Well _that's_ been a while," she joked, once feeling capable of speaking again.

"_Mmmmmmmmmmmm wow_," Rick replied with a chuckle. "That was wonderful, Kate. It really was, god, I love you."

"Mmm luff y'too," the brunette replied, standing up and turning her head to kiss him. "I hope that's not the last time tonight, I'm horny as hell."

Rick couldn't help it and roared with laughter. "I've been looking forward to you becoming a horny pregnant lady," he teased, kissing her neck and thrusting into her lightly. "But let's have that hot bath first, huh? My shoulder is stiff as hell."

"_Mmm not the only part of you that's stiff,_" Kate purred, squeezing his length which remained inside her.

"Katherine Houghton Castle, you are a naughty girl and I _shall _spank you later," Rick promised patting the slight swell of her stomach. "Cheeky woman."

* * *

"Ah that's better," Rick said with a sigh an hour and a half later as he and Kate stepped out of the bath. "I'm not so sore now."

"When you dry off, I'll rub some tiger balm into it," Kate replied as she wrapped her hair in a turban. "And if it gets worse it might be worth getting some of those stick on heat patches and getting out the wheat bag you used when in hospital."

Rick approached his wife and wrapped his muscular arms around her lithe frame.

"_You talk too much,_" he murmured placing kisses along the line of her clavicle and sucking on the little droplets of water there. "_I think what will help is going to bed with __**youuuuuuuuu**_."

Kate let out a breathy moan of desire as once again Rick's fingers dipped between her folds. "I'm going to ring Gates in the morning and take the day off," she purred. "I _need_ a whole day of sex."

Rick chuckled. "You'd take a whole day off just to satisfy your carnal needs, Detective_?_" he questioned, pressing his hardening length into the cleft of her backside. "That's not very responsible."

"I don't care," Kate said stubbornly. "I need sex and I need it _now._"

"You're turning into a horny pregnant lady," Rick informed his aroused wife. "I think I'm going to like this new side of you."

"Think you can keep up with me?" Kate asked, turning around and slinging her arms around his neck.

"I'll certainly give it my best."

"Well let's test that theory, huh?"

* * *

This time Kate and Rick ended up in the kitchen. Their sexual escapades had been so rough and _desperate_ they had accidentally swept two plates, two wine glasses, a flower vase full of daffodils and a bowl full of fruit onto the floor in their throes of passion.

Kate lay on the granite kitchen bench heaving for breath and once again drenched in sweat while Rick lay over her giving her listening to her racing heartbeat.

"K-Kate I c-can't do it any-m-more!" he heaved as she wrapped her legs around his hips to keep him inside her. "Sweetheart, you're gonna kill me! That's three times in two hours; I'm not a stud stallion."

Kate wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "I beg to differ," she disputed saucily. "You are _very much_ a stud stallion..._RAWR_."

Rick chuckled. "You're a saucy little minx," he informed her as the house phone began ringing. "You're definitely my kryptonite, Mrs Castle."

"_Aw nooooo__,__ don't answer it__.__ I was comfortable!_" Kate whined as Rick slipped from her heat and made his way over to the shrilling device. "_Riiiiiiiick!_"

"I have to answer it, it might be important," Rick told her apologetically, patting her still heaving belly affectionately. "Stay there, I'm not finished with you yet."

"I thought you said I was going to kill you?" Kate called cheekily.

"Ha ha."

Rick strode over to the house phone and with a flourish picked the handset up. "Hello this is the Castles's Castle to which department would you like to be transferred?" He announced cheerfully.

A deep chuckle filtered down the line. "Someone got laid last night," Frank Grasman, Rick's long time friend and FBI colleague responded.

"Last night?" Rick countered. "More like last minute."

"Thanks Ricky, I _really_ needed that information," the elder Special Agent replied. "All joking aside, I ring for business..."

"Oh?" Rick responded his interest piqued. "A special project?"

"No, the jury's risen in the Hargraves trial, we've got a verdict."

* * *

**A/N2: There you go peoples I hope you liked that installment! And again if you can offer any advice on how too recover the missing chapters I'd love to hear from you!**


	12. One Down, One to Go

**A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 19th Chapter of Dancing With Death I have titled 'One Down, One to Go' Unfortunately after the efforts of myself, my badass beta reader Bella and my erstwhile reviewer Ckgun93 I have been unable to recover the missing chapters. The gap that is there is unfortunately going to have to remain. Unless of course there is someone out there who MIGHT still have them for whatever reason. I hope as this story goes on the gap won't be too noticeable and the general plot, feel and emotion of Caskett and the team from the 12th overrides any inconvenience of missing chapters. We're edging ever so closer to Rick making his appearance on Dancing With the Stars so please stick with me there's PLENTY more to come!**

**Also please know I have no idea about the court room procedure of the US Supreme Court. What follows is my own imagination gained from reading, fanfics and watching entirely too much TV any innacuracies are totally unintentional :P**

* * *

Early the following afternoon Rick and Kate left the precinct and made their way to an ultrasound clinic a block away from Lennox Hill hospital.

"We get our first picture of our baby today!" Rick told Kate excitedly as they walked into the reception area. "We'll have to get a 'baby's first year' album to put it in. I still have the one I bought for Alexis all those years ago."

"Can I have a look at it when we get home?" Kate asked. "After we've gone to the court house I mean? I'd like to see what you've collected."

"Of course, it's one of the few things from her childhood I haven't packed away in storage or left at the Hamptons house."

"Can I help you, ma'am?" the receptionist asked Kate cheerfully.

"Yeah my name's Kate Castle and this is my husband, Rick. I've got a sonogram appointment at nine-thirty." Kate informed the woman. "Oliver Lehman is going to my OB/GYN."

"Uh huh, we've got you on the system here," the receptionist said tapping away at her keyboard. "Here's a clipboard with a few forms on it, if you could just fill them out and give it back to me before you appointment that would be great."

Kate took the clipboard and pen the receptionist gave her and turned to go and sit in the waiting area opposite the reception desk.

"I'm glad no one else is here, I'm not quite ready for the public to know we're expecting yet," Kate said to Rick in a low voice as she began filling out the forms on the clipboard. "I'd like to keep it quiet til I start showing."

"Well if we can keep with the late appointments or early ones, we should be able to keep it quiet til then," Rick replied affectionately, rubbing the small of her back. "I'm not even going to tell Paula. She'll ring when the rumors start going from whispers to screams."

Kate momentarily leaned into his back rub an expression of bliss flitting across her face. "That feels great!" She murmured closing her eyes briefly. "You can keep on doing that."

"It's been sore?" Rick asked in concern increasing the pressure of his ministrations.

"Yeah, especially after our theatrics on the kitchen bench," Kate confessed. "I don't think making whoopee on a granite bench is conducive to good back health."

"If you're sore now imagine how sore you'll be when you start showing," Rick said in amusement. "I'll have to hire you a personal masseuse."

"I'd prefer you did it," Kate replied as she continued filling out the forms. "And I don't think Gates would like a masseuse following me about the precinct all day. It'd look less suspicious you rubbing my back."

"I s'pose, though I still get the stink eye from her if I get too touchy feely with you."

"Hey, you get the stink eye from me if you get too touchy feely with me at the precinct," Kate countered a smile playing at the corner of her lips. "But in general, you're a good boy."

"_Because if I'm a good boy at the precinct I know I can be a bad boy at home,_" Rick whispered his hot breath sending tingles up and down Kate's back. "_You know me__,__ Tulip__.__ I behave myself in public if I can misbehave behind closed doors._"

Kate shivered. "_Down boy_." She hissed playfully elbowing her husband in the side as his hands began to wander. "When we get home tonight, alright?"

"_Really?_"

"Really."

Kate finished filling out the papers and returned them to the receptionist and almost immediately was called in for her appointment.

"Kate Castle?" a middle aged woman wearing a multicoloured set of scrubs called looking down at the clipboard in her hands.

Kate and Rick immediately got to their feet.

"That's me." Kate said lacing her fingers through Rick's.

"Follow me hon and we'll get you set up," the woman said. "I'm Anna I'll be your technician today."

"This is my husband, Rick." Kate said introducing the Writer.

"Nice to meet you, Rick," Anna said politely shaking the Writer's hand. "I'll take you down to the end examination room."

Kate and Rick followed Anna down to the end of the hallway to a room with an "_Examination Room No4_" sign hanging on the door.

"Alright, here's a hospital gown for you, Kate. If you'd just like to change into that, leave your panties on and I'll be back in a few minutes," Anna said to Kate handing her a bright pink hospital gown. "I just need to get a couple of things and I'll be right back, alright?"

"Alright."

"You know I kinda think you're already showing a bit," Rick commented once Anna left and Kate began undressing. "There's definitely _something_ there. You've been pregnant for a while, I think."

"We'll find out soon enough I s'pose," Kate said blushing slightly as the Writer raked his gaze up and down her slim frame, his baby blue eyes full of adoration and love. "You're staring at me."

"_No_ I'm _watching _you, there's a difference," Rick corrected her as his wife pulled the hospital gown on. "You're my wife and the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on. I can't help _watching _you."

Kate pecked him on the lips before climbing up onto the examination table. "You're sentimental," she said in amusement.

"Yeah, I'd say that's a fairly accurate description." Rick replied with a grin as the other door opened and Anna re-entered the room.

"Alright, ready to go?" the older woman asked brightly.

"As we'll ever be," Kate replied shifting to get more comfortable.

"_Relax__,_ you'll be fine," Anna assured the worried female detective as she entered some information into the sonogram machine. "If you could just lift up the gown, tuck it under your cleavage if you like."

"I'm sorry this is just my first ever ultrasound and I'm kinda nervous." Kate confessed putting one hand under her head and the other in Rick's.

"Ah don't be, sweetie. I do this eight or nine times a day, all you have to do is lay back and relax," Anna informed Kate. "Is this your first baby?"

"Yeah."

"My second," Rick added. "I have a nineteen year old daughter."

"Ah, so you've dealt with all of this before." Anna said, reaching into a tray and picking up a tube of gel and a transducer wand.

"Yeah, though not for a long time."

"Alright Kate, this is going to be a bit cold. I ought to warn you," Anna said, holding the tube of gel over Kate's abdomen. "It'll warm up quickly though."

"Alright."

Anna squirted a blob of the clear gel on Kate's lower abdomen and gently pressed the transducer to it. Instantly a fuzz black and white image came up on the screen of the sonogram machine.

"That's our baby?" Kate almost whispered a few minutes later as the image on the screen sharpened slightly.

"Yup, that's Castle Junior." Anna replied moving the transducer wand a little lower on her abdomen.

Kate turned and looked at Rick to see his baby blue eyes swimming with tears.

"_That's our baby__,__ Rick!_" she whispered, her own tears spilling down her cheeks "_Our baby._"

Rick leaned down and kissed Kate on the lips, his cheeks wet with his own tears. "_I love you__,__ Kate_," he whispered, kissing her over and over as his chest swelled with indescribable emotion. "You're baking a new Castle!"

"C-can you t-tell how far al-long I am-m?" Kate asked Anna in a constricted voice as the older woman continued the examination.

"Sure, just give me a moment and I'll let you know." The older woman replied, typing some information into the machine. "When was your last cycle?"

"About three and a half months ago, I think," Kate replied, furrowing her brow as she tried to remember. "My cycle has been mucked up all my life, but I know it was just before we got married-so mid April I suppose?"

"Okie dokie, I'll put a general date as April fifteen," Anna told the female detective. "_Dum de dum de dum._"

After a few moments more of running the transducer over Kate's belly Anna spoke.

"Well judging by the crown to rump measurements which is approximately two and a half inches long, you're about twelve weeks along," Anna divulged. "But as I said it's only an approximate guess, you could be anything from two to three months along."

"_That long?_" Kate exclaimed in surprise.

"Well that explains why you've been feeling crummy the last few weeks," Rick piped up. "You've been _pregnant_ the last few weeks."

"Sounds about right," Anna said cheerfully. "With my first, I was four months along before I guessed I was pregnant and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why my pants weren't fitting anymore. I suspect that's going to happen to you soon."

"It already is," Kate confessed, keeping her eyes glued to the sonogram machine screen. "I haven't been able to fit into my favorite skinny jeans for ages and my usual dress pants are a firmer fit than they used to be."

"How come you didn't say anything?" Rick asked.

"I just thought I was putting on weight because I wasn't well enough to go to the gym," Kate admitted. "Whenever I stop working out, I put on weight. When I was recovering from the shooting, I put on nearly twenty pounds."

"Well the weight you're putting on now would be normal pregnancy weight, so don't stress over it too much," Anna told the mom to be. "It's normal to put on up to forty pounds. Each woman is different. From personal experience I'd advise you to start shopping for some looser fitting clothing. Elasticized pants will be your best friend for the next six months, I guarantee you."

"Great, so I'm going to get an ass the size of a house." Kate groused good naturedly.

"Oh honey, almost every woman gets an ass the size of a house," Anna said with a laugh. "Don't worry about it."

"There's nothing wrong with an ass the size of a house," Rick said to Kate in amusement as he squeezed his hand. "_More for me to hold onto_." He added in a barely discernible whisper.

"_Shhhh!_"

"Would you both like a photo of the sonogram image?" Anna asked Kate and Rick.

"_Yes!_" the two partners chorused enthusiastically.

"I'll print out four copies," Anna said cheerfully. "That way you have one each and one for each set of grandparents."

"How about we keep one copy for ourselves to put in an album then give one each to your Dad and my mother and the other to Alexis?" Rick suggested as Anna tapped away at the keyboard on the machine her other hand still occupied with the transducer. "We can always scan the picture into my laptop and print out more copies if we need to."

Kate smiled. "Sounds _brilliant_," she said enthusiastically. "Maybe we can put one in a frame too?"

"How about I print out five copies for you?" Anna suggested with a knowing grin. "Then everyone gets a copy."

"Thanks so much." Rick said.

"No problem sweetie," Anna said cheerfully, taking the transducer off Kate's belly and wiping off the gel. "Well Kate, you're finished for today. I'll be emailing a video and photos of this scan to the OB/GYN you nominated on your paperwork and he'll probably send you back here in a couple of months."

"Will we be able to find out the sex then?" Kate asked, pulling down the gown. "I mean if Rick and I decide we want to know?"

"Sure, by then you'll be able to. Three months is a little early to tell, but it _can_ be possible to see the sex of the baby. If you opt for one of those three D scans, you'll see straight away. But that's for you to discuss with your specialist. I'm only a sonogram technician, I perform the procedure and send the information off to a specialist."

"Thanks for everything." Rick told the older woman fervently.

"No problem, darling. Now I'll go and get the prints from the copier out the back and bring them out to you. They should be ready by the time Kate's redressed."

Anna left the room and Kate redressed then she and Rick made their way out to the waiting room.

"You still alright to have everyone over Saturday night?" Rick asked Kate as she filled out some forms the receptionist gave her.

"Yeah that's good, what about Alexis? She's in Boston and wasn't planning to come home this weekend. Won't she be working?"

"I don't think so, she would have said when she rang last night," Rick replied. "She tells us everything, you know that."

"Hmm."

Rick composed a text message '_Dinner/Get together __at __Castle Pit__,__ 7PM Saturday night be there or be square_' and sent it off to the Ryan's Esposito and Lanie, Martha, Jim and Alexis.

A soon as he got the delivery report his phone rang lighting up with Alexis's caller ID.

"Hey Pumpkin." he greeted his daughter cheerfully.

"Hey Dad," the nineteen year old replied. "What's with the dinner invite? You didn't say anything last night."

"That's because Kate and I only just decided to hold the 'get together' now," Rick replied. "We haven't had everyone together you me, Kate, Jim, Kevin, Jenny, Javi and Lanie since we got back from our honeymoon and we wanted to catch up with you all at the same time. Can you come? Are you working?"

"No, I had just planned a whole weekend of staying in the dorm studying," Alexis admitted. "But I can book a flight down Friday night if you or Kate can pick me up from the airport. I mightn't be much company outside the dinner party though, I'm studying madly."

"Sweetie, it's the summer holidays!" Rick exclaimed. "Term doesn't start til September...that's nearly two weeks away."

"I know but I've only just come back from spending two weeks in L.A with Mom and she wouldn't let me study while I was there 'because it was the holidays' and I want to make sure I'm ready for when term _does_ go back." Alexis replied.

"If I promise to leave you alone to study, will you come home for a bit?" Rick pleaded. "I haven't seen you since the beginning of the holidays, sweetheart and I miss you, Kate and your Grams miss you too."

"I'll ring my boss at the morgue in the morning and see if I can get a week off," Alexis told her father. "I've been filling in for the other lab hands a lot lately so I reckon I might be able to negotiate some time off."

"Good, and if you can't I'll come up there and kidnap you," Rick replied with a chuckle. "Or I could arrest you. I'm allowed to do that; I have a badge that says so."

"Don't you dare," Alexis replied in amusement. "I'll see if I can get some time off from the morgue then I'll organize a flight down, alright? I'll text you the details okay?"

"No problemo pumpkin, I miss you."

"I miss you too, Dad. See you _and_ Kate soon." Alexis replied. "I love you both."

"Love you too sweetie."

"You alright?" Kate asked in concern as Rick ended the call and pocketed his iPhone.

"Yeah, I just miss my little girl," Rick said despondently. "She's all the way up at Harvard and when she's not studying her ass off she's working her ass off in the morgue. You know Meredith made her not study for the entire time she was in LA visiting her? She's 'catching up' now and I had to plead with her to come home for longer than the weekend."

"She's studying now?" Kate exclaimed in surprise. "It's the summer holidays!"

"I know but you know Alexis. She's a study nut, she always has been. She loves to soak up all sorts of information," Rick replied as they sat down and waited for Anna to emerge with the sonogram pictures. "It's a big part of who she is, it's always taken a lot of convincing from mother and me to get her to go out and have some fun. She said if she could get some time off from the morgue she would come down for a while. We both work during the day so I said she could study then, and then relax at night. If she comes down for a week, I'm going to put in for a day off and spend some time with her. I've hardly seen her since she went off to College and I miss her."

Kate squeezed his hand. "You'll see her soon," she assured the worried father. "We can always fly up there for a visit one weekend or drive if you're up for a road trip."

Rick nodded. "I know," he replied with a smile. "It just sucks having her so far away. I wish she'd chosen Brown, Columbia or NYU."

"Rick, if Alexis had chose a New York college-you'd be in her face fluttering about being the overprotective pain in the ass," Kate said in amusement. "You know you would. She's a young woman and needs to find her own independence, that's why she chose Harvard. She's going to come home, you know that. It's her ambition to be a practicing psychologist for the NYPD and she has to come home for that to happen."

"I know, it just sucks plain and simple," Rick groused good naturedly. "But I have you to distract me _and you do a magnificent job of that_."

"You need to behave yourself Mr Castle before I drop you," Kate hissed elbowing her husband in the stomach. "_Behave_."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

A short time later the couple left the ultrasound clinic and got into Rick's Suburban. Kate did up her seat belt and let out a nervous sigh as she and Rick prepared to go to the courthouse to hear the verdict for the Peter Hargraves case. Rick sensed his wife's apprehension and reached across the centre console to squeeze her leg.

"Everything'll be fine, Tulip," he assured her casting an affectionate look as he started the engine. "We'll be fine."

"I know, it's just anything connected with Mom's case and your abduction upsets me," the female detective replied as she adjusted the collar of her dress uniform. "I lost Mom and I almost lost you."

"There's just today, then Robinson's case. After that, it's all over Tulip," Rick said softly as he pulled into the busy flow of traffic. "It'll be over by Christmas, be over by the time our baby comes into the world. And once that happens, we can settle down with our baby, be a family and put this all down to a shitty life experience."

Kate flashed him a small smile. "You've always been the best at making me feel better," she informed him. "Its Robinson's case that's going to be the hardest seeing as he was the one who ordered the hit on Mom, Hargraves is a small fish really."

"I'll be with you every step of the way, beautiful. You know that," Rick vowed. "In good times and bad among other words we said to each other back in May, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Kate replied happily. "I might watch our wedding video again tonight, I'm in a romantic mood and that video is our own personal chick flick."

"It's certainly better than Valentines Day," Rick joked with a hearty snigger. "I'll never forgive you for making me watch that reel of horse shit."

"I feel the same about Insidious!" Kate exclaimed with a pronounced shudder. "Ugh, there are creepy paranormal horror movies and there are creepy paranormal horror movies and that has _scarred_ me for life."

"Alright I'll admit countering Valentine's Day with Insidious was going too far," Rick admitted sheepishly. "I wanted to sleep with a night light on for a few days afterward. But a few of the boys from the field office recommended it and I went for it."

"Do me a favour, don't ever listen to those boys ever again," Kate groaned. "The very thought of that movie makes my skin crawl."

Rick suddenly grinned. "I know something else that makes your skin crawl," he said cheekily, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "How about we continue that line of entertainment later tonight after we've finished at the precinct?"

"You've got training with Anastasia," she pointed out. "We can't, you'll be too tired," Kate added, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. "Keep it in your pants Special Agent Horny."

Rick threw his head back and roared with laughter. "This is coming from the woman whose libido quadrupled in twenty four hours," he quipped. "I actually got a stitch last night and I have never gotten a stitch from having sex my entire life."

"Suck it up, Writer Man. It's only going to continue," Kate informed her husband in amusement. "The way I'm feeling at the moment, my job is inconvenience and all I want to do is have sex. God, that sounds slutty!"

"No it doesn't, it just goes to show you have a healthy libido," Rick countered. "If it were slutty, you wouldn't care who you had sex with. And I am _not_ complaining about the extra sex at _all_."

Kate chuckled. "I was slutty once," she revealed after a long silence.

"Oh come on..."

"Yeah I was," Kate said. "Back in college after Mom died I needed an outlet from all the grief of not having her anymore. Dad turned to alcohol and for me it was sex. If there was a chance to get laid, I took it. It was Maddie who got me to see the light eventually. She told me I was starting to get a reputation and that if I wasn't careful something bad would happen. After that I cleaned up my act and worked towards getting into the NYPD. Since those days I've become very selective of whom I sleep with."

"Wow that's a revelation," Rick declared. "That figures why you were reluctant to tell me your number back when we first got together."

"Yeah, well I wasn't really proud of that part of my life," Kate admitted in a low tone. "I didn't want you to know that at one point in my life, I was a cheap lay."

"You know I don't think any less of you, don't you?" Rick asked as they continued through the mid morning traffic. "We all do stupid things in our youth; I've done some pretty dumb stuff, that's on public record."

"Yeah I know, it just feels weird that you know," Kate voiced. "I expect I'll get used to it."

* * *

A short time later the two partners arrived at the court house. Rick pulled into the parking lot reserved for law enforcement vehicles then cut the engine.

"Alright, you ready to do this?" he asked grasping his wife's hand.

"I should be the one asking you that," Kate replied dryly, squeezing his hand. "Yes I am, let's go meet up with Ryan, Espo and Gates and do this thing...huh?"

The pair got out of the Suburban and made their way into the court house via the rear entrance. They immediately spotted Ryan, Esposito and Gates all dressed in their dress uniforms talking with Frank by the noticeboard that listed all the scheduled court cases for the day. Ryan was the first to spot the pair and strode over to his friends.

"Hey," he said solemnly. "How are you feeling?"

"Bit apprehensive if I'm to be honest," Rick replied as Esposito, Gates and Frank looked on. "You guys the only ones from the precinct here?"

"At the moment...yeah, Karpowski and Jacques said they would try and come but they're out on the road after catching an early case so they might not be able to make it, Eggerstrom and Stegner are on their way in but Jameson and Oliver are back at the precinct holding the fort til we get back. The eleventh and Thirteenth precinct are too backed up with their own cases to be able to hold the fort for us at such short notice."

"Thanks for coming, you didn't have to guys," Rick informed his friend as he exchanged a fist bump with the Irish detective.

"We wanted to," Esposito piped up. "We took the son of a bitch down in that warehouse and we want to be here when he gets his just desserts. He's gonna get life for what he did to you Castle."

"Javi, it's just the verdict today. The sentencing hearing will be next week," Kate reminded her friend as she allowed the Latino detective to embrace her.

"And we'll all be here when that happens," the Latino detective vowed. "Did you run into the paparazzi out the front?"

"No thankfully, we came in the side entrance," Kate replied as Frank and Agents Woodson and Parnell rounded a nearby corner. "I have no doubt we're going to have to deal with them after the hearing though..._Frank!_"

The older federal agent strode forward and embraced Kate warmly. "Kate, it's been a while," he said. "How are you?"

"Eh, you know a bit apprehensive," Kate replied honestly. "But everyone is trying to assure me things will be fine."

"They will be," Frank echoed. "Both the AG and council for the defence have gone into the court room, d'you want to follow us? It's almost time for the session."

"Yeah...let's do this."

Rick smiled and laced his fingers through Kate's as the group headed toward the assigned court room. "You're more apprehensive than I am," he observed. "Don't worry, Tulip. Hargraves _is_ guilty. It's only a matter of time before it's declared officially."

"You're awfully optimistic," Kate groused as they fell into step behind Ryan and Esposito.

"I am because I know the case we handed off to the Attorney General is watertight; no court anywhere in the world, would find Hargraves not guilty. You _know_ this."

"Yeah I know."

"_Katie, Rick!_"

In perfect unison Kate and Rick's heads snapped around to see Jim Beckett running toward them dodging in and out of the people in the crowded lobby dressed in a smart suit and carrying a worn leather satchel.

"Dad!" Kate exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard this morning the jury had risen and I thought I would come in," Jim replied embracing his daughter. "My eleven o'clock cancelled so my morning is free."

"Thanks for coming, Jim. You didn't have to," Rick informed his father in-law in a low voice. "Your support means a lot."

"You're family, Rick. I wanted to," Jim replied, shaking his son-in-law's hand. "Is it time to go in yet?"

"Yeah, we're heading to the courtroom now," Rick replied as Kate waved to catch the attention of Karpowski, Jacques, Stegner, Eggerstrom and Gates who had just rushed in the front door. "Looks like everyone from the precinct save for Jameson and Oliver has come in, Kevin told us they're holding down the fort in the bullpen."

"Well, let's hurry into the court room," Jim urged his daughter and son in-law. "I want a front and centre seat."

"Dad this isn't the World Series," Kate informed her father dryly as their pace increased.

"I know that sweetie, but this is more important. I want to see the man that injured Rick so badly found guilty," Jim declared. "And he's part of the reason your Mom is no longer with us and I want to see anyone connected with that put away."

"I understand."

Kate Rick and Jim followed the flow of traffic towards courtroom six and pushed their way down the front to take a seat being the prosecution bench with Ryan, Esposito, Gates, Karpowski, Stegner, Frank and Agents Woodson and Parnell. In the second row was relatives of Peter Hargraves victims. Rick spied Tyler Harrington and his mother Benita and lifted a hand to wave. Tyler lit up and gave the Special agent an enthusiastic thumbs up in return. A line of T.V cameras and reporters lined one side of the court room and all attention was focused on the doors in which the presiding judge and jury would emerge. A low buzz of conversation could be heard and a definite current of tension hung in the air.

Rick sat between Kate and Jim and nervously tapped his toes on the carpeted floor. Kate noticed this and squeezed his hand hard.

"_Not long now,_" she murmured, leaning into his muscular bulk. "We'll be out of here and back to the precinct in a couple of hours."

"I know."

The team remained in silence til the door of the jury room rattled and swung open. The buzz of conversation increased in pitch as the six man, seven woman jury filtered out and took their seats.

"That means the judge will be out soon," Jim murmured as the court foreman made his way over the door from which the judge would emerge.

Less than five minutes later a pair of armed guards escorted Peter Hargraves from the holding cells into the court and sat him down next to his legal council. Mutters of '_Son of a bitch_' and '_Asshole_' could be heard and Kate heard her father murmur '_bastard'_ behind her and angrily set his jaw. Kate laced her left hand fingers through his and her right hand fingers through Rick's-both of the men squeezed her hands then trained their eyes on the door of the judge's chambers.

No more than five minutes later the foreman made his way to the front of the judges seat and cleared his throat.

"_Please be upstanding for Justice Elena Kagan!_"

Simultaneously everyone in the packed courtroom got to their feet and stood in respect as Elena Kagan made her way into the courtroom. Kate, Ryan, Esposito, Stegner, Eggerstrom and Gates who had all worn their dress uniform all removed their caps respectfully as the judge ascended the steps to her chair.

"Be seated," she instructed the audience to those gathered.

At once everyone sat down and the buzz of conversation died away.

"Today will only be a short hearing," Kagan began as she slipped on a pair of black rimmed glasses and consulted some paperwork in front of her. "I shall only keep you all here for as long as it takes to hear the verdict and dismiss the jury, so Mr Foreman of the jury-have you reached a verdict on all the charges?"

The jury foreman a tall thin scholarly looking man dressed in a grey pinstripe suit and red tie got to his feet clutching a crisp manila folder.

"We have madam." He replied solemnly.

"_Here we go chica._" Esposito murmured

"On the count of trafficking of a class A narcotic?"

"We the jury find the defendant guilty."

"_Fifty years there,_" Jim muttered as Rick closed his eyes.

"Please silence in the court!" Kagan ordered sternly banging her gavel.

The buzz died away again

"On the first count of murder in the first degree?"

"We the jury find the defendant guilty."

"On the second count of murder in the first degree?

"We the jury find the defendant guilty."

"On the count of accessory to murder in the first degree?"

This was the charge of being an accessory to the murder of Johanna Beckett and the one charge the team at the twelfth precinct hoped would stick. Rick gripped Kate's hand harder and fixed his gaze on the jury foreman's face.

"We the jury find the defendant guilty."

Every single Special Agent and NYPD officer present broke into enthusiastic cheers. Ryan and Esposito shared a high five and Karpowski pumped her fist. Frank and Agents Woodson and Parnell hissed in victory. In unison Kate, Jim and Rick deflated all exhaling in relief.

"_SILENCE!_" Kagen bellowed as she banged her gavel loudly. "I will not tolerate such noise in my court room_!_"

"_Well excuuuuse me._" Rick murmured the ghost of a smile tickling the corners of his lips.

"_Oh Rick__, __**behave!**_" Kate hissed as the cheers and elation faded. "_you don't want a charge of contempt on your record now._"

Biting his tongue Rick turned his gaze to Kagan who were staring down the group of NYPD and FBI officers with a death glare.

"Let's continue with proceedings," she suggested pointedly. "On the charge of kidnap and torture of a federal agent?"

"We the jury find the defendant guilty."

"Oh this is _BULLSHIT!_" Hargraves exclaimed loudly. "Total bullshit!"

"Mr Hargraves pipe down!" Kagan thundered. "You are disrespecting my court by using such language. Utter another word out of turn and I _will_ charge you with contempt of court, understand me?"

The disgraced cop shot the older woman a demonic death glare. "Yes _ma'aaam_," he replied sarcastically

"And on the final charge of attempted murder of a federal agent?" Kagen continued, addressing the jury foreman.

"We the jury find the defendant guilty."

The team behind the persecution bench couldn't help it and burst into another volley of cheers and whistles. Ryan and Esposito shared their trademark fist bump and Gates leaned sideways to shake her detective's hand.

Kagan brought her gavel down once and the loud snapping of the mallet instantly silenced the excitable crowd. "_SILENCE!_" she bellowed. "_I will not tolerate such insubordination from anyone in my court!_"

It took a while before everyone calmed down but eventually the cheers, whoops and whistles reduced to an excited buzz. The three TV cameras present trained on Rick and Kate, the teams from the precinct and FBI an the other on Peter Hargraves who's expression was nothing but thunderous.

"Proceedings for this case are finished for now, jury I thank you for your commitment and dedication to this case. You are hereby discharged from your duties."

The foreman nodded respectfully.

"In regard to sentencing the prosecution and defence will convene back here in no less than seven days on August Thirtieth two thousand thirteen at 2PM, until then the defendant will be returned to custody … _dismissed!_"

Kagan got up and strutted off to her chambers and only then did the gathered crowd burst into whoops and cheers. Rick leapt to his feet and engulfed Kate in a hug as Hargraves stood up to be escorted back to the holding cells.

"_I should've killed you when I had a chance__,__ Castle__.__ You worthless sack of shit!_" he bellowed as a pair of burly guards wrestled him into handcuffs and shackles. "_You're not worth a piss in a bucket!_"

"_Thank you_," Rick whispered in Kate's ear as he closed his eyes and nuzzled her neck deeply inhaling the scent of her perfume, deodorant and shampoo. "_I love you so so much Kate, thank you for getting me out of that warehouse._"

"It wasn't just me," Kate murmured returning his hug with ferocity. "Kevin and Javi-"

"I know, but you were at the forefront," Rick informed her as he pulled back and looked deep into her hazel green eyes. "I know it sounds corny but if it wasn't for you..."

"I know, I don't like to think about it either." Kate finished. "One down and one to go and all this crap is over and done with, huh? _Then we can have fun waiting for Castle Junior__,__ huh?_"

"Sounds great."

"Hey bro, how you doing?" Esposito asked slapping his friend on the shoulder as Kate embraced her father. "The bastard's going away, that's gotta feel awesome."

"It does," Rick admitted as those gathered in the courtroom began flowing out of the doors. "Great, now I have to face the media. For once in my life I'm going to hate it."

"Hey, don't worry," Ryan piped up. "You and Kate head out the back way to the suburban, we'll deal with it. Let's meet back at the precinct okay?"

"Thanks Kevin, you're a lifesaver," Rick informed his friend gratefully. "Literally, you too Espo."

"No problem dude, now you head off and we'll see you soon … okay?"

"You got it."

Kate and Rick hung back til they were at the back of the group, then when the attention was on the front the pair ducked out a side door and headed back to the Suburban.

"I owe those guys _big time_," Rick announced as he slumped back in the driver's seat of the vehicle.

"No you don't, you know they wouldn't expect anything," Kate said. "You don't owe anyone anything, now before you start dwelling on things you shouldn't, conference call Alexis and Martha you promised you'd tell them what went on today."

Rick smiled and affectionately patted her leg. "I'd be nothing without you, you know that?" her told her as he fished his iPhone out of his pocket. "You have no idea how much I love you right now."

Kate smiled. "Call your mother and daughter," she instructed. "_Then_ on the way back to the precinct you can continue to tell me how much you love me."

* * *

A/N2: I'm a review whore, please let me know what you think!


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